Two newsletter readers have written with news that the Institut généalogique Drouin took The Generation Network Inc. (recently re-named Ancestry.com) into arbitration over the lack of full and proper indexation of the Drouin Collection previously placed on-line by Ancestry.com.
On the 12th of August 2009, the judge named to arbitrate this case sided with Drouin, and declared that The Generations Network (Ancestry.com) has failed in its contractual obligation to properly and fully index the database prior to publication and since publication. The decision grants 60 days to The Generations Network to remedy the situation. Should they fail to do so, the license granted by the Institut Drouin will lapse.
The parties must still meet on September 9, 2009 to decide on the amount of damages caused by this breach of contract. Following this decision, Jean Pierre Pépin has asked that Ancestry.com remove the Drouin collection from internet access until such time as it is fully and properly indexed.
The Drouin Institute has posted the story in French at:
http://www.institutdrouin.com/avis180809.pdf.
A Google computer-generated translation (which may not be perfectly accurate) is available at: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.institutdrouin.com%2Favis180809.pdf&sl=fr&tl=en&history_state0=.
