Nielsen Audio and Saga Settle Copyright Case

Nielsen Audio has reached an agreement with broadcast company Saga Communications and its affiliate Lakefront Communications over a copyright infringement action brought by Arbitron.

Prior to its acquisition by Nielsen, Arbitron claimed Saga had infringed its copyrights by reproducing and distributing its audience estimates without authorization. According to the suit, between 2010 and 2012 Saga's management and employees obtained copies of Arbitron's copyrighted audience estimates and used these for setting advertising rates at the broadcaster's various radio stations. Arbitron alleged that the use of this copyrighted material was so widespread, that station personnel coined the phrase the 'Arbitron Bonus', to describe how staff pay bonuses were determined according to how well a specific radio program performed in the illegally obtained audience estimates.

In May 2013, Arbitron said it would be seeking damages of at least $150k per infringement, as well as attorney's fees, costs, and 'an award of enhanced damages'. While Saga denied the copyright infringement allegations, it admitted that from time to time, third-parties had given the company excerpts and summaries of facts, information, data or numerical rankings provided to the third parties by Arbitron.

Following the announcement that the case has now been resolved, Nielsen said in a statement: 'The lawsuit was filed as part of an ongoing Nielsen Audio initiative to protect its intellectual property rights. As part of the agreement, Saga has taken a PPM license for its stations in Milwaukee-Racine, Wisconsin, Columbus, Ohio, and Norfolk, Virginia. Saga also licensed Diary services in Des Moines, Iowa, and Manchester, New Hampshire. This agreement protects Nielsen Audio's intellectual property rights for audience estimates, data, and software.' Matt O'Grady, Nielsen EVP and MD, said his team was pleased to have reached the agreement and welcomed Saga as a client.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .