CompuServe Corp. and Time Warner Inc.’s Time magazine have settled a $3.5 million lawsuit filed against CompuServe after that company dropped the magazine’s on-line version from its service.
The companies said Friday they reached a financial compromise, although specific terms were withheld. CompuServe, which dropped the magazine on March 18, resumed making Time available Friday on a non-exclusive basis.
Time sued the No. 2 on-line service last month, saying the company was reneging on a two-year agreement and refusing to make payments under the contract. Time left America Online Inc. in March 1996 for CompuServe.
CompuServe wooed Time from No. 1 AOL by offering an undisclosed flat free and a percentage of revenue Time generated on CompuServe. Under the new agreement, the terms of the original contract have been scaled back, CompuServe said.
CompuServe first signed up Time to broaden its appeal to subscribers and consumers. During the last year, however, more publishers have moved to offering free information on the Internet, and CompuServe has suffered from financial and subscriber losses.
CompuServe said it believed it had the right to opt out after the first year of the agreement. The service said it decided to end the contract because it wasn’t economically worthwhile.
