A federal appeals court handed a major defeat to Wall Street banks in ruling that a financial news service did not misappropriate their analyst research for its website. Reversing a lower court ruling, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said Theflyonthewall.com Inc could not be held responsible for the alleged republication of "hot news" and headlines for its namesake site.
Monday's unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel is a defeat for Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays Plc and Morgan Stanley. They argued that Theflyonthewall.com was getting a "free ride" by systematically misappropriating research, including upgrades and downgrades on stocks, costing them profits. Theflyonthewall.com countered that it had a First Amendment right to publish before news goes stale, and that it typically got its information from public sources or from talking with traders and others in the marketplace. In its ruling, the appeals court ordered the dismissal of the banks' misappropriation claim under New York state law, which it said was "pre-empted" by federal copyright law. "A firm's ability to make news - by issuing a recommendation that is likely to affect the market price of a security - does not give rise to a right for it to control who breaks that news and how," Judge Robert Sack wrote for the appeals court panel.
Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin, Barclays spokesman Seth Martin and Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Sandra Hernandez declined to comment. Bruce Rich, a lawyer for the banks, did not immediately return requests for a comment. Theflyonthewall.com called the ruling a "complete victory," and said it will continue publishing news feeds. Its lawyer Glenn Ostrager called the case particularly challenging because of the "enormous legal resources" expended by the banks. In March 2010, US District Judge Denise Cote had ordered Theflyonthewall.com to wait until 10 am ET to report research issued before the US stock market opens, and at least two hours for research issued later.
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