For the London Free Press – Dec 17, 2007

Read this on Canoe

The early publication of sales flyer pricing deals by websites has resulted in legal controversy.

Some retailers don’t like it when their deals for days such as Black Friday in the United States or Boxing Day in Canada, get leaked by third party websites before their own flyers are released.

Wal-Mart in the U.S., for example, has threatened legal action against websites that publish their prices early. But can they actually prevent that?

There is no copyright in facts. So while it would probably be a copyright violation to reproduce a retailer’s flyer on a website, there is no copyright violation in publishing the fact that a certain store will sell specific items at specific prices.

Retailers have threatened, based on the information being confidential. So long as the website publishing the information has not used inappropriate means to obtain the data, that argument doesn’t carry much weight.

From a non-legal perspective, having such information posted early perhaps tips off competition to the store’s prices — but also potentially brings its sales information to more potential customers. It is free advertising for the retailer. Some retailers tolerate the sites, but simply encourage customers to look at their official flyers or sites, since there’s no guarantee the third party sites have the right information.

Many consumers like to look at these sites to compare prices from several retailers and to see prices in advance of the retailer flyers. Several sites in the U.S. post Black Friday and other sales prices early. When faced with legal threats, some ignore them, others comply out of fear of legal action.

So what about Boxing Day deals in Canada?

A Google search in late November yielded only a couple of sites that intended to post early information about retailer ads. Unlike the U.S. sites that tend to find and post information without retailers’ consent or knowledge, the Canadian sites tend to work with the retailers.

When asked, www.redflagdeals.com advised they will publish Boxing Day deals in advance of when they’ll be published by stores. They said they “work with the retailers to establish a date when we can push the content live (before it’s out in the public) and will publish the earlier of that date or as soon as it’s public.”

Another Canadian site, www.shoppingfinder.ca, said they “provide free listings for all retailers. We will invite all member stores to add the Boxing Day Sale on the ShoppingFinder.ca before Dec. 15, 2007.”

So check out the web ahead to see what and where the deals are — but if you’re not looking at a retailer’s official flyer, you might want to check the store’s official information before lining up in case that deal doesn’t exist.

Maybe I’ll see you in line Boxing Day morning.