Ipreo Holdings, the operator of the bigdough institutional investor database, has filed suit against Goldman Sachs accusing the bank of copyright infringement and data theft.
The Ipreo suit, filed in the US District Court in New York, accuses at least two unidentified Goldman employees of 264 incidents of unauthorised access to the computer database in 2008 and 2009. The firm claims that the Goldman staffers used Ipreo passwords without authorisation to steal confidential data from the site, which claims some 16,000 subscribers.
The complaint alleges: "This unauthorised access was done by defendants with the intention to steal, copy, use and/or solicit contacts and coverage information taken from the database and to use such information in furtherance of Goldman's business interests."
The firm is claiming damages of up to $3 million.
Goldman has dismissed the claim as being "without merit" and says it will contest the case.