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Meltwater consents to Isentia injunction restraining use of services

The Australian representatives of US-based media monitoring service Meltwater have agreed to comply with competitor Isentia’s legal demands not to access the Australian company’s services following court proceedings this week.

Isentia made an application to the Federal Court last week seeking orders to restrain Meltwater along with Melbourne staffer Shasank Mohapatra and his wife from using Isentia’s content, alleging the US company was breaching the service’s terms and conditions in accessing the media monitoring services and making false representations under Australia Consumer Law.

Sydney-based Isentia also went on to make claims Meltwater is engaging Indian associates to ‘scrape’ Isentia’s content and has been depriving Australian media companies of copyright royalties.

Isentia’s court hearing seeking the injunction didn’t proceed this week as Meltwater, Mohapatra and his wife all consented to the Federal Court making the orders effectively preventing Meltwater’s access to Isentia-supplied content from 20 June 2017.

In a later statement, Meltwater’s spokesperson said, “Meltwater willingly consented to the orders on an interim basis without admitting any liability in order to properly meet the allegations, which it will be defending. The allegations are entirely untested. Any suggestion or implication to the contrary is false and any portrayal of this as a finding by the Court in favor of Isentia is misleading.”

“As with all court proceedings, there will be procedural matters, which will be contested and ruled upon by the Court. However, it is only the final ruling of the court that determines whether there is a basis to the claim or not.’

“It will be some time before the court finally rules on the allegations and it is inappropriate for any conclusions to be drawn.”

“Meltwater would like to reassure its clients that it will continue to service them fully as always.”

The matter returns to court today “to address an outstanding procedural matter in the interlocutory application and will otherwise proceed in the usual way to a final hearing seeking permanent restraining orders on the terms of the interlocutory orders, damages and costs”, a statement from Isentia said.

UPDATE: This story has been amended to state Isentia sought an injunction against Shasank Mohapatra, described by Meltwater’s public relations representative as the company’s Melbourne office manager. Isentia’s media releases on the matter said they was taking action against “Meltwater’s managing director and his wife”. Meltwater’s Director for Australia and New Zealand, David Hickey, and his wife are not subject to the legal action.

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