Financial newsletter files plagiarism suit against competitor

Next Inning Technology Research, an online investment newsletter focused on semiconductor and technology stocks, has filed suit to stop the plagiarism of its content by New World Investor and its editor Michael Murphy.

“Individual investors have limited choices when it comes to truly independent investment research, and those investors deserve thoughtful analysis that they can trust,” said Paul McWilliams, editor of Next Inning Technology Research, in a statement. “It was discouraging to discover that a longtime competitor has been willfully infringing upon our intellectual property.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, details New World Investor’s alleged frequent plagiarism of Next Inning Technology Research’s publications. The suit documents numerous examples of reproduction of Next Inning’s work, claiming Murphy lifted Next Inning’s proprietary analysis on companies such as Verizon, AT&T, Harmonic, DragonWave, Sprint, Lightsquared, and Clearwire.

In the complaint, Next Inning alleges that New World Investor “presented this material as the writing of Murphy, and concealed the fact that much of the text published on the New World Investor Website is stolen from McWilliams’ original work published on the Next Inning Website.”

New World Investor charges a subscription fee to access its web site, and Murphy has at times made his content available through sites such as Seeking Alpha and TheStreet.com. (He occasionally writes commentary for InvestorPlace, which is one of TheStreet.com’s media partners.)

A copy of the lawsuit can be found here. Murphy and New World did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.