Yahoo amends counterclaim against SPH

MEDIA company Singapore Press Holdings’ (SPH) suit against Internet company Yahoo over copyright infringement has taken a new turn.

Yahoo had withdrawn one of the grounds of the counterclaim it filed against SPH.

It would no longer assert that SPH’s website Stomp had infringed its copyright. However, Yahoo’s claim alleging that SPH made groundless threats of copyright infringement against it remains.

SPH’s initial claims against Yahoo for copyright infringement were also still pending.

Sources said on Tuesday that the US-based Internet giant Yahoo had applied to the courts to allow it to amend the claim it made against SPH. The courts granted an order for it to do so in May.

Its move to drop the particular counterclaim was made without an order of costs. It is understood that, as far as the withdrawal of the counterclaim is concerned, neither side is asking the other to cover legal costs.

This development marks a first, albeit small, step towards resolving the legal tussle that began in November last year, when SPH filed a copyright infringement suit against Yahoo.

It alleged that the Internet company had reproduced news content from its stable of newspapers without permission.

SPH cited, as examples, 23 articles from The Straits Times, The New Paper and My Paper that Yahoo had allegedly substantially reproduced over a 12-month period.