MANHATTAN (CN) - Dow Jones & Co. sued Real-Time Analysis & News dba Ransquawk for $5 million, claiming the British company republishes Dow Jones financial news "within seconds" to its paid customers, "without ... doing any reporting, commentary or analysis of its own."
In the federal lawsuit, Dow Jones accuses Ransquawk of tortious interference with business relationships and misappropriation of hot news.
Dow claims Ransquawk is a "pirate" that "unfairly ride(s) for free" on Dow's back, by "nearly instantaneously cutting, pasting and broadcasting via (its) own channels the reports of news events that other have uncovered at significant investment and expense." This "business model" allows Ransquawk to report the news at a cheaper price.
"The misappropriation of news and content not only devalues news products, it also threatens the very economic structure upon which journalistic enterprises such as Dow Jones are built and upon which its customers depend," according to the complaint.
Ransquawk republishes the Dow's content on its own website and through audio broadcasts, or "squawks," Dow says. It seeks disgorgement of unjust profits, an injunction and attorney's fees.
Dow Jones is represented by Robert LoBue with Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler.
The 17-page lawsuit has 15 pages of exhibits, including a list of the defendant's rebroadcasts, almost all of them within 1 minute of the Dow Jones report - some within 6 seconds - a Nov. 11, 2013 cease and desist letter from Dow Jones' attorneys to the defendants, and a denial from the defendants that it cadges Dow's reports.
In its letter, the defendant claims it gets its stuff elsewhere, for example, from "various twitter sources."
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