A man was yesterday ordered to pay €50,000 in damages for operating two websites that copied all the material published in the Yellow Pages in breach of copyright and competition laws.

Jurgen Neumann ran www.yellowpagesmalta.com and www.whitepagesmalta.com which, according to Yellow Pages (Malta) Ltd, even copied mistakes the company had purposely placed in the publication to catch the defendant out. The company produces and distributes the Yellow Pages locally and owns the copyright.

The court, presided over by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, said the work was original in its format and its division into sections. Although the content was not protected by the laws of copyright, its general format was original and the copyright in it belonged to the company.

Mr Neumann had copied the company’s work and put it in an online format as a digital soft copy.

Mistakes contained in the hard copy were also repeated in the online version, the court confirmed.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco found him guilty of breach of copyright and ordered him to pay €35,000 in damages to the company. Mr Neumann was also ordered to pay the company €15,000 in damages for unlawful competition.

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