Globrix now having to pay for listings

It's been a rough week, not just for the portals, but for search engines as well. Last week, some mini-drama came to light between Globrix the search portal owned by News Int. and Vebra, the software service for estate agents owned by Guradian Media; also owner of Think Property a Globrix competitor (in more ways than one, remember Globrix = News Int and Vebra = Guardian). The conflict forced Globrix to pull 120,000 listings off their database a move globrix described as 'somewhat unfair' because Globrix provided what they consider to be "value added service in the form of free traffic for Vebra".
Well things got resolved and last week Globrix announced the 'good news' that they had come to an agreement with Vebra; but it seems the agreement involves them paying Vebra for the privilege to crawl their servers:

Daniel Lee, chief executive of Globrix says “We’ve come to an arrangement that means agents can get on the portal for free. We are paying some kind of fee, but I can’t say anything about it as it’s confidential.”

The deal sets a bad precedent for Globrix as other companies and software providers may use the Vebra precedent and demand money from Globrix for listings. Everybody knows they have deep pockets, backed by one of the largest media moguls in the world. Globrix aren't ashamed of it either, but times are tough and agents and related companies are dropping like flies. And when times get tough people get desperate and when people get desperate and they know you have something they want or need (i.e. money) they will come after you and they will figure out a way to get what they think they need.
A word to the wise is sufficient.