TribCo.-owned Conn. paper sued for plagiarism

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

A small, family-owned Connecticut newspaper sued the state's largest newspaper Thursday, saying it repeatedly plagiarized stories after cutting its own reporting staff to save money.

The Journal Inquirer of Manchester accuses the Hartford Courant of "pirating" at least 11 local news stories in August and September, then publishing them as its own work under Courant reporters' bylines.

The Courant is owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co.

The Journal Inquirer's lawsuit, filed Thursday in Hartford Superior Court, alleges the Courant violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and federal copyright law. It seeks at least $15,000 in damages, plus court and attorney fees.

It claims the Courant saved money by cutting back on some local coverage, then took credit for its smaller competitor's work on bread-and-butter stories such as town zoning board actions, school administrator appointments and local political skirmishes.

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