Euregio.net, a Belgian ISP and producer of on-line entertainment
for women, has sued a US-based rival for the sum of EUR 1,000,000
(around £612,000), claiming that InternetHoroscopes.com illegally
used copyrighted, search-engine-optimised text from Euregio.Net's
EasyScopes Entertainment Network.
Euregio.net's lawsuit claims that InternetHoroscopes.com, which
is part of the web property of Women.com, used content from
EasyScopes.com to improve its search engine rankings.
"The stolen text was published using white letters on a white
background on all pages of InternetHoroscopes.com," explained Joe
Savelberg, co-founder and on-line producer of Euregio.net. "This
means the text was not directly visible for normal visitors but was
still indexed by search engines."
Although the word "EasyScopes" was replaced by "Internet
Horoscopes" throughout the text, the publishers of the infringing
site kept original spelling mistakes and references to other trade
marks of Euregio.net. Search engine queries for the copyrighted
text and trade marks brought up the Belgian site.
Women.com has now removed the infringing text and published an
acknowledgement of the infringement on InternetHoroscopes.com.
However, according to Savelberg, Women.com has not met
Euregio.net's demands for compensation. Accordingly, Euregio.Net
has Net filed for damages in a Belgian court.
