Back in 2005, financial-services firm Legg Mason paid $19.7 million to newsletter publisher financial Lowry’s Reports stemming from claims of illegal distribution of the latter’s newsletters. The Financial Times Group is now hoping for the same, this time suing a controversial biggie: Steve Schwarzman-owned Blackstone Group, alleging that employees in the PE group’s London office had passed around the online premium account info to avoid paying for multiple accounts, reports WSJ’s Digits blog. Those London employee was accessing thousands of articles a day, going as far back as 2002, the suit alleges.

Blackstone did try to settle with FT, but Blackstone began settlement negotiations with the FT, and prior to any result, the Pearson-owned company decided to sue, the story says. The full lawsuit is posted here, and no word in it on how much damages FT is seeking from Blackstone.

• Legg Mason to Pay $20 Million For Illegal Distribution of Newsletter
• Judge Upholds $19.7 Million Copyright Award Against Legg Mason