Securities Giants Sue Website for Alleged Piracy

Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley and Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc., three of the world’s biggest securities firms, sued website The Fly on the Wall on Monday, claiming that it “pirated” their stock research.

The copyright infringement lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, said the site “systematically and impermissibly accesses” the firms’ proprietary equity research, “free riding” on their work without conducting any of its own.

The suit claimed that the website misappropriated research and “rushes to market with the intent and effect of undermining the firms’ enormous investments” in providing clients with exclusive market analysis.

“Fly promotes itself as a substitute for the firms as a source of information and analysis,” the securities firms said in the suit. “Its means of accomplishing this aim is to free-ride on the firms’ proprietary equity research.”

The Englewood, N.J.-based website charges subscribers a monthly fee for access to market information.