UBS sued for allegedly lifting articles for its investment research

UBS AG’s U.K. unit was sued for allegedly copying articles from oil and gas publications and reprinting them in their investment research distributed to clients.

Energy Intelligence Group Inc., based in New York, said its publications, which include International Oil Daily, World Gas Intelligence and Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, were copied by UBS Ltd. at least 10 times during 2006 and 2007, according to the lawsuit. Energy Intelligence articles or portions of them were reprinted in UBS’s own investment research publication, Daily Oil News, according to the suit filed in a London court last month and made public this week.

UBS analyst Jon Rigby had a single-user subscription for the Energy Intelligence publications beginning as long as 10 years ago, according to the suit. Rigby, based in London, is the global coordinator of the bank’s Daily Oil News publication, which is distributed in at least 17 countries including the U.S., U.K., Germany, Russia and China, Energy Intelligence said.

UBS, based in Zurich, has been copying the publications “in a systematic manner over a long period of time for the purposes of enhancing its profile and reputation amongst its customers and potential customers,” according to the lawsuit. “The defendant threatens and intends to repeat the acts of infringement.”

UBS spokesman Dominik von Arx declined to comment.

The publisher’s suit seeks unspecified damages from UBS for copyright infringement.

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