paidContent: Briefing.com settles in Dow Jones hot news case

Market analysis news provider Briefing.com has settled a copyright and ‘hot news misappropriation’ lawsuit brought against it by Dow Jones & Company, according to a paidContent report.

‘Hot news’ describes a contentious legal doctrine designed to prevent news organisations from re-reporting or republishing time-sensitive news gathered by others within a certain period.

The sum, which is undisclosed, was reportedly paid following claims the site had published Dow Jones stories without consent.

With such clear evidence of cutting-and-pasting, Dow Jones could have won its suit with a copyright claim alone. But it’s telling that the wire service insisted on suing over—and forced Briefing.com to admit it had violated—the hot news claim as well. It suggests that the news service may be trying to put itself in a strong position to file more hot news lawsuits in the future.

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