Volume I

Issue : 7: October 2, 2003

• Legg Mason Ordered to Pay $20 Million in E-Newsletter Copyright Action
• The California Court of Appeals Upholds Regulation Requiring Electronic Fingerprinting of Welfare Recipients.
• U.S. Court of Appeals Stays Injunction Against Telemarketing "Do-Not-Call" List
• Parents Sue School District for Use of Wi-Fi
• Court Bars Minnesota from Regulating VoIP Provider
• New York Man Sentenced to Jail for Online Sale of Copyrighted Music
• U. S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in the Rambus Patent Standards Interface Fight
• EU Releases Privacy Study
• U.S. Supreme Court to Revisit COPA
• U.S. Court Of Appeals 4th Circuit Finds Insurance Policys Property Damage Provision Does Not Extend To Damage To Or By Software.
• Google France Chastised for Sale of Trademarked Keywords

Home > Volume I > Issue 7: October 2, 2003 > Legg Mason Ordered to Pay $20 Million in E-Newsletter Copyright Action

Legg Mason Ordered to Pay $20 Million in E-Newsletter Copyright Action

On October 6, 2003 a federal jury in Baltimore awarded Lowry's Reports, a market analysis firm, $20 million in its copyright suit against financial-services giant Legg Mason. Lowry's produces a daily newsletter analysing financial markets and typically charges approximately $700 per year per subscription. It was alleged that for more than a decade Legg Mason, who subscribed to a single copy of the newsletter, on a daily basis copied and distributed the newsletter to their branch offices, where employees further copied and distributed it.

Although Legg Mason acknowledged that its employees copied and distributed Lowry's newsletter, it argued that such copying contravened express company policy. The Court did not accept this argument due to the strict liability nature of U.S. copyright law, which does not require knowledge or intent to prove infringement.

For additional information, visit:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53416-2003Oct6.html