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Torts Keyed to Epstein
International News Service v. Associated Press
ProfessorTodd Berman
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
The parties are competitors in the gathering and distribution of the news and its publication for profit in newspapers throughout the U.S. Associated Press (Plaintiff) was engaged in the business of gathering and disseminating news to its constituent members. The total cost of Plaintiff’s service was about $3,500,000 annum. Its individual members shared in that cost. Each member agreed by Plaintiff’s bylaws that news received through the service was received exclusively for publication in a newspaper and that no other use would be made of the information in advance of the publication. Each member was also required to gather news in his district and supply it to Plaintiff and no one else. International (Defendant) is in the same business as Plaintiff. They were competitors. It is obvious from the facts that the information gathered had time sensitive value and that there would be enormous competitive advantage to get the story published first. Associated Press (Plaintiff) sued International (Defendant) for bribing the employees of its member news organizations for news information, for inducing Plaintiff’s members to violate its by laws and permit Defendant to obtain news before publication, and by copying news from bulletin boards and from early editions of Plaintiff’s newspapers and selling this either in whole or after rewrite to Defendant’s members. The issue before the court was whether Defendant can be restrained from appropriating news taken from bulletins issued by Plaintiff or any of its members, or from newspapers published by them for the purpose of selling it to Defendant’s clients. Plaintiff got a preliminary injunction against Defendant. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.
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