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By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Dow Jones & Co on Thursday fileda lawsuit accusing the London-based service known as Ransquawkof illegally accessing its news feed, and broadcasting itscontent within seconds of publication to traders and othersubscribers.
The lawsuit by Dow Jones, a unit of News Corp, isthe latest to test the rarely-invoked doctrine of "hot news"misappropriation, where news providers try to stop aggregatorsfrom getting a "free ride" on journalism and other content thatcan take much time and expense to create.
Ransquawk, whose formal name is Real-Time Analysis & NewsLtd, operates a "squawk" service that broadcasts audio and textfeeds of breaking news, including potential market-moving news.
In the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court inManhattan, Dow Jones accused it of "nearly instantaneouslycutting, pasting, and broadcasting" content from its DJXservice, which includes news unavailable to the general public.
By accessing such content without permission, and withoutits own reporting or analysis, Ransquawk can offer a "piratedproduct" at a cheaper price, said Dow Jones, whose productsinclude The Wall Street Journal.
"We refuse to sit back when others swoop in to swipe ourcontent," Jason Conti, deputy general counsel of Dow Jones, saidin a statement.
According to Ransquawk's website, "8/10 of the world'slargest banks" use Ransquawk, in such areas as equities, fixedincome, foreign exchange, energy and metals.
Ranvir Singh, the chief executive and a co-founder ofRansquawk, in a email on Thursday said: "Whilst we obviouslystrongly deny any accusations made against us by Dow Jones bothin the U.S. courts and on social media sites we will only be ina position to make a full statement tomorrow."
Dow Jones said it sued after Ransquawk, through its lawfirm, denied having improperly retransmitted material directlyfrom DJX, and said it obtained the challenged material throughTwitter sources, instant messages, and other news services.
The lawsuit accuses Ransquawk of hot news misappropriationand interfering with Dow Jones' contracts. It seeks a halt toany misappropriation, plus at least $5 million of damages.
Dow Jones has pursued similar litigation before, and in Nov.2010 said it received a "substantial" amount from Briefing.comfor misappropriating hot news and headlines for its website.
In June 2011, a federal appeals court in New York found thatthe website Theflyonthewall.com had not misappropriated hot newsby publishing upgrades and downgrades from stock analysts atBarclays Plc, Bank of America Corp's MerrillLynch unit, and Morgan Stanley.
Dow Jones competes with Reuters in providing real-time newsand information.
The case is Dow Jones & Co v. Real-Time Analysis & News Ltd,U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.14-00131. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)
