Newspaper & Mailroom

NewspaperDirect Awarded Damages Against ToDaily for Breach of Contract

Monday 27. October 2008 - NewspaperDirect Inc. announced that the International Center for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) has ruled in NewspaperDirect's case against ToDaily (Victory Interactive Media SA). The AAA has found ToDaily liable for damages and has issued the Final Award in favor of NewspaperDirect.

On March 16, 2007, NewspaperDirect suspended its content feed to ToDaily and terminated the License Agreement with the company. This action was prompted by concerns on the part of NewspaperDirect that content was being misused by ToDaily, and that royalties due to both NewspaperDirect and its publisher partners were not being paid. Since that time, NewspaperDirect has pursued damages in U.S. courts and the action has now been concluded.
The panel of three arbitrators, whose decision is both binding and final, stated:
“The credible evidence adduced at the hearing clearly established that Respondent, doing business as ‘ToDaily’ and otherwise, breached its Agreement with Claimant by, among other things, failing and refusing to pay royalties when due and owing; wrongfully competing with Claimant in violation of the clear and unambiguous terms of the Agreement… As a practical matter, Respondent, in bad faith, literally ‘pirated’ Claimant’s business in the territories granted to it pursuant to the Agreement, thereby depriving Claimant of the benefit of its bargain embodied in the Agreement.”
“After considerable expense and effort, NewspaperDirect is pleased to finally bring closure to this issue,” said Alexander Kroogman, CEO of NewspaperDirect. “We are committed to the future of digital newspaper printing and remain diligent in our efforts to expand our fully transparent digital distribution network for our growing network of publishers, distribution partners and customers worldwide.”
NewspaperDirect is now taking steps to enforce the decision of the AAA.