Notice to ERDC Members, and a settlement in the works!

Dear Friends

The Electronic Rights Defence Committee (ERDC) is pleased to announce it has reached a tentative settlement with two of the defendants in our long-running class class action arising from unauthorized electronic use of the freelance stories in The Gazette of Montreal. In addition, the Quebec Superior Court has ordered the posting of a Notice to Members of the class together with copies of the settlements. This starts the ball rolling toward a payout to class members. Links to the documents are below:

1.ERDC_Notice_to_members_2010-06-06_CGCC_+_LP_-FINAL_APPROUVE_FRANCAIS.pdf

2.ERDC_Notice_to_members_2010-06-06_CGCC_+_LP__FINAL_APPROUVE_ANGLAIS.pdf

3.ERDC_Transaction_Revised_2010-06-01_FINAL(2).pdf

4.ERDC_Transaction_with_Canwest_Publishing.pdf

The settlements are with Canwest Publishing Inc./Publications Canwest Inc.(which is the legal successor through amalgamation of Montreal Gazette Group Inc, Canwest Interactive and Infomart Dialog Limited) and Canwest Global Communications Corporation. Both are in protection-against-creditors proceedings before Ontario courts. This means that the actual amount of the settlements is undetermined at present because the creditors’ claims against the corporations are still being processed.

However ERDC’s claim against Canwest Publishing has been valued at $8,500,000 for voting and distribution purposes in respect of any plan of compromise or arrangement proposed by CPI to its creditors. The ERDC’s claim with Canwest Global Communications is valued at $500,000.

In both cases these amounts will be reduced very substantially as the protection-against-creditors procedures are wound up. It is possible that we could receive about 10 to 15 cents on the dollar. Certainly it will be months, if not years before we receive anything.

Both these settlements require court approval. We will have more to say about what they mean in the days to come.

The documents we’re sending you will also be posted on our website, http://www.erdc.ca, as well as on that of six writers organizations.

Please feel free to circulate the notice widely.

Cheers

Jack Ruttan, secretary
Mary Soderstrom, president

List of other organizations which will post the notices

http://www.sfpavocats.ca (Attorneys of the group Website)
http://www.writersunion.ca (The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC))
http://www.qwf.org (Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF))
http://www.uneq.qc.ca (Union des écrivains québécois (UNEQ))
http://www.pwac.ca (Professionial Writers’ Association of Canada (PWAC))
http://www.ajiq.qc.ca (Association des journalistes indépendants du
Québec(AJIQ))
http://www.cfunion.ca (Canadian Freelance Union (CFU));

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