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November 4, 2009 3:46 PM

Insignia's Legal Bills in News America Suit Are 24% of All Its Expenses

By
Jim Edwards
(MoneyWatch)  About 24 percent of Insignia Systems' entire quarterly expenses went on its legal fight against News America Marketing's alleged monopoly over supermarket advertising.

Insignia (ISIG) released its Q3 2009 earnings statement at the end of last month and revealed that a settlement conference with NAM is set for Jan. 11, 2010. The conference is "required by local rules," Insignia said. The subtext there is that Insignia probably has no desire to settle. It won a massive sumary judgment ruling on virtually all its claims, and rival coupon agency Valassis won a $300 million verdict from NAM earlier this year.

No trial date has yet been set.

The case is make-or-break for Insignia. Its Q3 revenues were $7.9 million, on $973,000 in admin expenses. Of those expenses, $233,000 were legal bills to fight NAM. Those bills were also the equivalent of 24 percent of Insignia's net income. To compare, Valassis spent between 10 percent and 23 percent of its profits on lawyers prior to its trial against NAM.

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
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