Funeral home issues warning over online obituary 'pirating'

A Fredericton funeral home is warning its clients about a website that's been copying obituary information, reposting it without permission and using it to turn a profit. 

Bishop's Funeral Home says a website called Echovita has been taking obituaries from funeral home websites, changing and reposting them, sometimes with errors and accompanied by advertisements for products such as flowers and digital candles.

Funeral director Jim Bishop said he gets calls from clients feeling confused about their loved one's online obituary.

"They alter the obituaries so that they're not exactly the way we've written them," he said. "Periodically we've had people call and say, well, 'this information isn't accurate. Why is this person's name spelt wrong? This person's left out?'"

He said he tells people that the only official obituary is the one posted on his funeral home's website. 

"It still doesn't solve their issue with the fact that the content for their loved ones writeup is out there, on the web, in an incorrect state," he said.

$20M class action 

In February, the Bereavement Authority of Ontario published a notice to consumers about Echovita, which runs obituaries from across Canada and several other countries. It said this "pirating" of obituaries has been an ongoing issue.

In 2019, a federal court ordered a website called Afterlife.co to pay $20 million to people whose copyright the company had infringed on. According to the judge's decision, Afterlife.co did not have a lawyer present and did not participate in the lawsuit.

The Afterlife.co website was similar to Echovita's, except fewer changes were made to the obituaries it copied and it would also post people's photos.

In the decision, Pascal (Paco) Leclerc was named as one of the directors of Afterlife.co.

CBC News asked for comment from Echovita, and received a response from Leclerc.

"Echovita's mission is to facilitate access to previously published obituaries, free of charge," he said. "We do this with respect for applicable laws, but above all, with respect for bereaved families by deploying customer service that listens to their needs as well as offering multiple ways to honor the memory of the loved one."

Bishop said if a family comes to him with complaints about an unofficial obituary, he could send a cease and desist letter but that's about all.

"Beyond that, we can't really legally go after them."

Echovita has an option for people to claim an obituary. According to the website, people can provide documentation proving they're a family member so they can share in the profits from the sale of flowers and other products.

Family members or authorized representatives can also request that the obituary be deleted altogether. The company says such a request is always respected, although it can take up to three days for the deletion to take effect. 

"You will also receive the majority of commission earned through sales of candles, flowers, and other products purchased by family and friends," the website says.

It's unclear how many obituaries on the website are claimed by family members.