Cision Counterclaim over Dow Jones Newsfeed Contract

Consumer and media intelligence specialist Cision has fired back at news publisher Dow Jones, which is suing it for cancelling a contract and halting payments. Cision says Dow Jones 'breached its fundamental obligations under the agreement, such as exclusivity, confidentiality and customer marketing'.

DRNO reported almost a year ago that Cision had integrated Dow Jones titles - including The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, Investor's Business Daily and Dow Jones Newswires - into its intelligence platforms. The deal should have helped Cision's clients to manage brand reputation, monitor 'business-critical' topics and extend their global comms strategies, and included selected content from Dow Jones' business information and research tool Factiva. Cision reportedly agreed to pay fees totalling around $174m over eight years, but in July Dow Jones took it to the Supreme Court of the State of New York claiming Cision had suspended further payments after 'unilaterally concluding' that the partnership was not economically viable for it.

Cision has since filed a counterclaim, asserting that Dow Jones failed to meet its legal obligations both before and after the deal was struck. The counterclaim details some twelve identified breaches of the contract by Dow Jones and twenty misrepresentations or fraudulent omissions in persuading Cision to sign.

In a statement, Cision spokesperson Josh Vlasto said the company denies Dow Jones' allegations and intends to defend its rights and businesses vigorously.

Web sites: www.cision.com and www.dowjones.com .