The Law: Warning to Pirates

Nothing is more certain to send an editor through the roof than to see his exclusive stories turn up without credit in the next edition of the rival newspaper or hear them on a local radio station's newscast. The practice is so widespread and so deep-rooted in tradition that most editors do no more than fume about it. One who did is Managing Editor Shandy Hill of Pennsylvania's Pottstown Mercury, who was irked for years by what he claimed was the lifting of his news items by a local broadcaster. After a long battle with Pottstown's WPAZ, Hill last week had the satisfaction of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling affirming that news is the property of those who gather it, and pirates can be punished.

The Mercury "has a commercial package upon which to base a cause of action . . . against a competitor allegedly converting the news items to its own uses in pursuit of advertising," declared the court in a unanimous, seven-judge opinion, which added that "the law will guard and protect against wrongful invasion by a competitor."

Elated by last week's general ruling, Hill made plans to press on through the courts for an injunction against WPAZ. "This is a boon to every newspaperman who has had his stuff swiped," he said. "This lifting of stories was just like getting my pocket picked." Some other Pennsylvania editors agreed, including those pestered by opposition papers who do not bother to do any reporting on their own. For the Supreme Court made it clear that its ruling was a warning to newspapers as well as broadcasters.