Attorneys for investment banking firms suing financial news site Theflyonthewall.com argued Friday before the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that they should be able to control when news such as analyst upgrades and downgrades get disseminated.
Larry Neumeister of the Associated Press reports, “The financial companies in 2006 sued the Summit, N.J.-based corporation for copyright infringement and misappropriation, citing Theflyonthewall.com as the most systematic and egregious of the unauthorized redistributors of their reports.
“Rich said the lawsuit was not ‘speech directed’ or an attack on the First Amendment.
“At one point, Judge Reena Raggi asked him why the financial firms were not damaged if CNBC or The New York Times released the same information as Theflyonthewall.com.
“‘Our clients are pragmatic,’ he said. Rich called Theflyonthewall.com a ‘business that focuses on beating our own clients to the punch.'”
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