Rich Get Richer in ‘Hot News’ Stock Tip Fight

A well-known financial news aggregator is being ordered by a federal judge to delay publication of prominent financial analysts’ buy and sell recommendations to allow the well-to-do the first crack at capitalizing on that trading research. The 3-year-old litigation, brought by Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and others, rests on the so-called “hot news” doctrine the Supreme Court first recognized in a 1918 case concerning the unauthorized and immediate republication of wire service reports. A New York federal judge said Theflyonthewall breached the doctrine, which allows suits for re-reporting time sensitive “hot news.” Research that Theflyonthewall reposted or alluded to on its site was designated for the banks’ clients that earn the firms not less than $50,000 to $100,000 in trading commissions yearly, U.S.

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