Publisher goes to court alleging digital sharing
The next time you pass around the office subscription to a trade publication, think twice.
Energy Intelligence Group, the publisher of 15 newsletters for the oil and gas industry, has sued more than a dozen energy companies and investment houses in Houston for violating federal copyright law by buying a handful of subscriptions of its pricey publications and sharing them with nonsubscribers in the office. With settlements reached in nearly all the cases, one is left.
That case went to trial this week in U.S. District Court in Houston. The publishing company, based in New York and London, accuses Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors of sharing its five subscriptions of “Oil Daily” with others in the investment firm who did not have their own subscriptions.
Like several other cases, the publishing company was inadvertently tipped off by an employee at Kayne Anderson who revealed that copies were passed along to others who did not have their own subscriptions.
Kayne Anderson says it did not violate copyright laws and disputes Energy Intelligence Group’s’ claims of financial loss, according to a court filing. The firm manages $24.5
billion in assets and its specialties include investing in oil and gas companies.
“This is a matter that should have been resolved three years ago but hasn’t because of their unrealistic and unreasonable position,” Kayne Anderson spokesman Paul Blank said.
‘Eats your lunch’
Energy Intelligence Group alleges that forwarding copies of its publications, which are distributed via email, violates copyright laws. The practice is a vexing problem for publications that don’t receive advertisements and rely strictly on subscriber sales. When a single copy is passed around —something easy to do with email —the publication loses that revenue.
“It kind of eats your lunch and takes your milk and bread off the dinner table,” said John Hitchcock, managing director and vice president of Energy Intelligence Group, which sells individual articles of Oil Daily for $9 and individual issues for $95.
Energy Intelligence Group uncovered the alleged unauthorized distribution of copies when it received an email from a Kayne Anderson employee complaining that the company did not receive its Feb. 5, 2014 issue of “Oil Daily,” according to court documents.
Soon after, the employee, who was not on the subscriber list, sent another email saying she received a copy from a co-worker, so there was no need to send another.
The publishing company called to follow up and discovered that one subscription of “Oil Daily” was routinely distributed to 20 or more individuals in the office, according to court documents.
Energy Intelligence Group sued Kayne for copyright infringement in 2014. In May, Kayne challenged Energy Intelligence Group’s underlying copyright by arguing that the publishing company’s copyright registration certificates are invalid because the publishing company used the wrong copyright forms. Kayne asked the court to move the dispute to the federal copyright office.
Profits targeted
Energy Intelligence is seeking unspecified damages, including all profits Kayne Anderson made from using the information it gained by reading Oil Daily.
The publishing company has settled confidentially with other firms, including the Houston energy companies Enterprise Partners and Cheniere Energy.
Hitchcock said the settlements typically include an agreement to buy more subscriptions.
“We manage to get people to see this is fair and to actually pay for it,” he said.