Klein Report receives no compensation from media database SMD
The operator of the online news service Klein Report will not receive any compensation from SMD Schweizer Mediendatenbank and Swissdox for texts that the two companies recorded in their databases and offered for sale. This was decided by the Federal Court.
In a ruling published on Wednesday, the Federal Supreme Court follows the decision of the Zurich Commercial Court. The latter had concluded that Press Media AG, the operator of Klein Report, had not proven its entitlement to file a lawsuit.
In its considerations, the Federal Court states that the rights to a work, i.e. to an article, basically belong to the author. The authorship can be transferred to the employer in an employment relationship. However, Press Media had not shown in its complaint that this had actually happened.
Lost advertising revenue
Press Media filed a lawsuit against SMD and Swissdox with the Commercial Court in 2019. SMD is owned by Ringier, Tamedia and the Swiss Radio and Television Company (SRG). Swissdox is a subsidiary of SMD and offers the articles archived with it to the public for a fee.
Press Media demanded damages for lost advertising revenue for around 10,000 articles that had been stored by the defendants without its consent and the surrender of the profit that the databases had generated with the articles. (SDA)
