WKYC, Gannett’s Cleveland NBC affiliate, is being sued by radio ratings service Arbitron for infringing on its copyright in a joint venture the station had with internet streaming service Pandora.

According to allaccess.com, Arbitron claims:

“WKYC-TV has willfully and intentionally infringed ARBITRON’s copyrights by copying and distributing copyrighted audience estimates obtained from the ARBITRON Reports and Databases without authorization from ARBITRON. Moreover, WKYC-TV has infringed ARBITRON’s trademarks by willfully and intentionally using the ARBITRON Marks in its promotional activities. WKYC has falsely represented that certain audience estimates were produced by ARBITRON when, in fact, those audience estimates were not produced by ARBITRON, causing confusion in the minds of the public.”

In the complaint, Arbitron said a media kit used in the promotion of Pandora as part of a sales package by WKYC titled, “Bringing Local Internet Radio Advertising to Cleveland!” used reproductions of Arbitron audience estimates and station ratings, specifically a page titled, “Pandora in Cleveland – Demo Comparison” which quotes audience estimates for the Cleveland radio market from January to July 2011.

[mrweb.com][kurthanson.com]