On the LAWPROF list-serve, lawprof[_at_]chicagokent.kentlaw.edu, there is a current "thread" about legal materials on the net. In further postings re legal materials, please indicate if it'd be ok for me to forward a copy to the LAWPROF list. (I'm asking them the same re their postings being forwarded to the cni-copyright list).
[incidentally, is there any easy way to 'cross-list' a thread?]
Wendy Gordon. wgordon[_at_]bu.edu
Wendy J. Gordon | Professor of Law | Internet: wgordon[_at_]bu.edu Boston University Law School | Phone: 617-353-4420 765 Commonwealth Avenue | Fax: 617-353-3077 Boston, MA 02215 | -----------------------------------------------------------------
On Sun, 5 Feb 1995, Keith Lipman wrote:
>
> I have once again recently priced the cost of getting Federal
> Court decisions on CD-ROM from West or Mitchie and choked at the cost.
> I however have recently noticed several legal publishers who are
> selling U.S. Supreme Court decisions on CD-ROM very reasonably priced.
> These publishers state very specifically that the information was
> derived from the Official US Reporter. I have spoken to some of these
> publishers about why they do not put together a CD-ROM for the Circuit
> and District Courts. The answer is usually that the company fears a
> lawsuit for copyright infringment from West. The issue being that West
> assets that it owns the pagination of F.2d/F.3d and F. Supp. In light
> of the Feist decision and the West v. Mead Data Star Paging opinion,
> what is the current state of the law; should any corporation hold a
> monopoly over US case law; and is there any legislative move to
> eliminate west's supposed copyright?
>
> My spin is that since the Feist decision which eliminated the sweat of
> the brow theory from copyright, West has no rights in the pagination of
> case law. Additionally, from a policy standpoint, I believe that
> everyone should access to the law cheaply. Therefore, we should
> statutorily eliminate any rights to the pagination of court decisions,
> and allow free competition in the publication of court decisions.
>
> Keith Lipman, Esquire
> klipman[_at_]lklesq.com
Received on Mon Feb 06 1995 - 20:40:23 GMT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Mon Mar 26 2007 - 00:35:14 GMT