The battle between a hedge fund and Footnoted

Richard Teitelbaum writes for Institutional Investor about the battle between investigative business news site Footnoted founder Michelle Leder and a hedge fund Squarepoint that it has accused of stealing its information.

Teitelbaum writes, “Leder did not offer a trial contract, which she believes could have provided her an airtight legal case against Squarepoint. She is adamant, however, that Elbaze’s actions clearly violated the website’s terms of use, which read in part: ‘You may not copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, or distribute any component of Footnoted.’

“‘I would still love to resurrect’ the website, says Leder, who has been freelancing for The New York Times’s DealBook site.

“She wonders whether she made the right decision in shuttering Footnoted. ‘It was a really difficult time for me emotionally,’ she says. ‘I had been really burned by this. I felt violated.’

“And, naturally, Leder wonders whether she should have sold her firm when hedge funds expressed some interest in buying it all those years ago.”

Read more here.