## Facts

- Dow Jones created and published stock market indexes, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), using selected component stocks and a proprietary compilation method involving editorial judgment and expense.
- Dow Jones distributed the indexes and related financial information through its news service to institutional and individual subscribers for informational use and display.
- The Board of Trade of the City of Chicago (CBOT) subscribed under a subscription agreement allowing it to receive and continuously display Dow Jones averages on its trading floor in real time.
- CBOT sought to list and trade a stock index futures contract and proposed using the DJIA as the underlying index for settlement values.
- CBOT filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a ruling that its proposed DJIA-based futures contract would not violate Dow Jones’s legal or proprietary rights.
- Dow Jones objected, asserting a proprietary interest in the DJIA and claiming CBOT’s proposed futures contract would commercially appropriate the index’s value and goodwill without authorization.

## Issues

1. Whether Dow Jones has a protectable proprietary interest in its stock market averages, including the DJIA.
2. Whether CBOT’s proposed use of the DJIA as the underlying index for a futures contract, without consent, constitutes commercial misappropriation under Illinois law.
3. Whether the parties’ subscription agreement authorized CBOT to use the DJIA beyond informational display, including as the basis for a futures contract.

## Decision

- The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court and ruled for Dow Jones.
- The court held Dow Jones possessed a proprietary interest in the DJIA and related averages.
- The court held CBOT’s proposed DJIA-based futures contract would constitute commercial misappropriation of Dow Jones’s proprietary interest absent consent.
- The court held the subscription agreement permitted receipt and display of the averages for informational purposes but did not authorize use of the DJIA as the underlying “commodity” for futures contracts.
- The declaratory relief sought by CBOT was effectively denied; CBOT could not proceed without Dow Jones’s authorization.

## Legal Principles

- A publisher may hold a protectable proprietary interest in the economic value and goodwill of a financial index produced through investment, judgment, and selection, even if underlying price data is publicly available.
- Commercial misappropriation occurs when a party exploits another’s compiled information and reputation as a core input to a revenue-generating product, thereby appropriating value and goodwill without consent or compensation.
- Direct competition with the index creator is not required for misappropriation where the challenged use depends materially on the index’s recognition and market value.
- A subscription agreement granting access to and real-time display of information is construed as an informational license; absent clear terms, it does not permit using the information as the foundation of a separate marketed financial product.

## Conclusion

The court recognized Dow Jones’s proprietary interest in the DJIA and held that CBOT’s plan to base a futures contract on the DJIA, without authorization, was commercial misappropriation not permitted by CBOT’s informational subscription rights.


Board of Trade of the City of Chicago v. Dow Jones & Co., 456 N.E.2d 84 (Ill. 1983)