Blacklock's Reporter

Last updated
Blacklock's Reporter
Type news website
Format Online Newspaper
PublisherHolly Doan
EditorTom Korski
Founded2012 (2012)
Headquarters Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Website blacklocks.ca

Blacklock's Reporter (founded October 2012) is an Ottawa-based Internet publication covering Canadian government administration. It publishes several articles each day, along with book reviews, poetry and guest commentaries.

Six reporters, including Tom Korski, banded together to launch the news site. [1] Its name is derived from a Montreal Gazette war correspondent, Thomas Hyland Blacklock (died 1934), who had been head of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery. [2]

In November, 2012, Blacklock's won a dispute with the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery to have its journalists accredited. [3]

Blacklock's won an Ontario Small Claims Court lawsuit over breach of its paywalls. [4]

In November 2016, the Federal Court of Canada rejected an action for breach of copyright by Blacklock's against the Department of Finance of Canada. [5] The Court held the sharing of paywall-protected articles among a relatively small group of people connected with the news item was fair dealing. [6] The Court ordered Blacklock's to pay the Department costs of $65,000, stating that "the litigation should never have been commenced, let alone carried to trial", and that Blacklock's demand for compensation was "based on unwarranted and self-serving assertion of indiscriminate and widespread infringement". [7] [8]

Blacklocks has filed several other paywall protection cases that are still awaiting trial. [9]

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References

  1. Rupp, Shannon (October 26, 2012). "An Old School News Site that Minds Ottawa's Business". The Tyee . Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  2. "About Us Blacklock's". blacklocks.ca. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  3. "Parliamentary Press Gallery issues Blacklock's Reporter accreditation after controversy". 28 November 2012.
  4. "1395804 Ontario Ltd. (Blacklock's Reporter) v. Canadian Vintners Association". Canadian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  5. "1395804 Ontario Ltd. (Blacklock's Reporter) v. Canada (Attorney General)". Federal Court of Canada. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  6. "Federal Court Finds Fair Dealing in Blacklock's Reporter v AG Canada | Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC)".
  7. "Judge orders Blacklock's to pay government $65,000". 21 December 2016.
  8. McKiernan, Michael. "Focus: Feds must take action on copyright trolls". Law Times. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  9. "Browsewraps, fair dealing and Blacklock's Reporter v Canada: A critical commentary".