Class-action suit against obituary website gets certification, will move ahead

A class-action lawsuit filed against the websiteAfterlife has been certified by the Federal Court of Canada.

Afterlife has made waves over the last year by aggregatingobituaries from other websitesand profiting on them by selling virtual candles and flowers to mourners on its own website.

St. John's lawyer Erin Best is handling the suit.

"They were posting obituaries,and photos along with those obituaries, that they had copied directly from a funeral home website and sites where the writers had allowed the obituaries to go up," Best told CBC News.

For family and friends of the deceased, it was a shock to seeAfterlife had copiedand pasted their loved one's obituary to their website. Several people across the country spoke out, taking their stories to the media.

• Class-action lawsuit filed against website for posting obituaries without consent

Bestsays thisis an infringementon copyright.

"So we filed the class action, and the next stage then was to get the class action certified. You go before the court and ask the court to look at the way you defined the class," Best said.

Afterlife hasn't had much to say since the suit was filed, according to Best.

"I don't think they had a great defence, so they've just stepped back and they're just going to let the action proceed," Best said.

"I think we have a good case. Clearly under our copyright act, an obituary is a literary work, and attracts copyright protection. Certainly aphotograph is an artistic work that attracts copyright protection, and they were copying both of those things, both of those works, without permissionfrom the copyright owner."

Similar operation

Afterlife has since shut down its website, but a similar service has poppedup. Anyone trying to access Afterlife will be redirected to Everhere.

"They were announcing people's recent deaths, but they were not including a photo and they were using a generic death announcement," Best said.

"But we have sued that corporate entity, so if it's owned by the same corporate entity then there may be an issue. But either way, they've altered whatthey're doing as a result of our lawsuit."

There will now be an opting-out period, where anyone involved in the suit can exit. After that, Best said they should see results quickly, potentially by Christmas.

"I think that the class will be somewhere between onemillion and twomillion people. It's huge," Best said of the amount of people potentially involved in the suit.

"I don't think the company had a lot of money to begin with, and so I don't think we're going to be able to collect a large sum of money. In which case it makes zero sense to try and split a very small amount of money between one to two million people."

Best says they've asked the court to allow for them to donate the money to a relevant charity.

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