a. Facts-
P and D are both involved in the news industry. D actively takes news from
bulletins that P publishes, and uses the news to publish their own articles. P
and D are direct competitors.
b. Procedural
History- Trial Ct found for P, Ct of appeals affirmed, U.S. Sup Ct affirmed
c. Issue-
i.
Whether “news” can be considered
“property”
ii.
Whether the D’s admitted appropriation
of P’s news for commercial use constitutes unfair competition in trade, thus
allowing lawful restraining of D
d. Holding-
i.
Yes, the substantive “news” (not the
form or the actual words it is presented with—re copyright law) is considered quasi property
ii.
Yes, D’s admitted appropriation of P’s
news for commercial use DOES, in fact, constitute unfair competition, and D can
be lawfully restrained from such actions
e. Rule-
There is quasi property in the “news”
that a news agency makes against other news agencies. It is unfair for a news
agency to takes another agency’s news and present it as their own
f. Rationale-
i.
Because P and D are both in the business
of “news”, we can treat the “news” that P acquires as quasi property…thus vesting property rights in P. For D to
appropriate this quasi property for
D’s own economic gain is to exploit the work of P. In other words, P does all
the hard work and D takes the credit
ii.
POLICY: If we allow wrongful
appropriation of news for economic gain, there would be no economic incentive
for “first responders” in news to carry out their business. Ex: News companies
would simply wait until another “creates” news, then re-report it
iii.
Of course, once the news is published,
readers can transfer intelligence in said news to others…so long as an economic
infringement is NOT taking place
iv.
“Instead of D selling their goods as P’s
goods….D is selling P’s goods as D’s own”
g. Notes:
i.
This case analyzes the legal
relationship between the two Corps, NOT the P and the general public
ii.
The Ct wants news to be available to the
public…the Ct does NOT want to discourage this
iii.
Just because you discover the news does
NOT mean that you exclusively own it…you can NOT copyright it
iv.
P and D are in “direct competition” with
each other
v.
The Legislature is who says “what
intellectual property” belongs to who
vi.
When do you get, if ever, an IP law
right?
1. In
terms of against the world, you get no rights
2. This
is not about property rights, it’s about unfair competition
vii.
The idea is to prevent monopolies…the
Cts want to promote fair competition. Competition is the best thing for
consumers because it promotes good quality products and lowers prices
viii.
Contrast to a company that doesn’t rely
on the data to make money (NBA)…by me reporting the scores in real-time doesn’t
mean that the NBA is going to stop playing basketball games
1. Think
about: “what will happen to a certain industry once this ‘stealing’ happens?”
ix.
“INS” is applied very narrowly
1. Demise
of economic venture
2. Direct
competition
3. Strict
applicability to “hot news”
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