Re: materials used in court

On Wed, Mar 29, 2000, Nancy Griffin <grifnanc[_at_]isu.edu> wrote:
>
> During a discussion with a pathologist recently, he told me about a
> practice of copying charts, graphs, photographs, etc. from various
> books and journals to use in court cases. These materials are used,
> without attribution, to support expert testimony. Copies are
> distributed to all legal counsel and judges associated with the
> case in question.
>
> I hope I have expressed this clearly. It is apparently a standard
> practice. Is it a violation of copyright?

I would expect that these fall under fair use.

A note though, if I were counsel presented with a chart, graph, etc., I would insist on source information and object if none is provided. In fact, if I frame my interrogatories correctly, i.e, asking for all things upon which the expert will rely, I should have the source info for these and would definitely object if the info had not been provided prior to trial. Not your main question, I realize, but a practical aspect of things.

Harold Federow
<haroldf[_at_]bsquare.com> Received on Thu Mar 30 2000 - 17:23:11 GMT