RE: DOES WEST CLAIM COPYRIGHT IN TEXT OF JUDICIAL OPINIONS
THE "OTHER" WEST V. MEAD CASE
There has been discussion back and forth as to whether
West claims a copyright in the text of legal opinions
alone--absent identifiable West materials such as the
syllabus and headnotes. The recent posting by James
Schatz, copyright counsel for West, would so indicate
that indeed West does claim a copyright in the opinion
text as "enhanced" by West. In other words, West is
attempting to claim a derivative copyright in the
public domain court decisions based upon the "sweat of
the brow" additions made by West [although apparently
not relevant under copyright law, the extent of the
changes made by West is a confidential business secret,
says West].
Has West ever sued a publisher for this -- you bet. In
1988, just weeks before the commencement of the trial
in West v. Mead in the federal district court in
Wisconsin, West filed another action against Mead --
for copyright infringement and anti-trust. This action
was settled along with the other litigation between
West and Mead. The existence of the related 1988
litigation is described in a footnote to the Patterson
and Joyce article.
Here are excerpts from the complaint which show the
West claim to a derivative copyright in the text of
judicial opinions.
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West Publishing Company v. Mead Corporation and Mead
Data Central, Inc.
Civ. No. 4-88-142
United States District Court, District of Minnesota,
Fourth Division
Excerpts from Complaint dated February 22, 1988
Signed by Vance K. Opperman, Opperman & Paquin
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* * *
Count I - Copyright Infringement
* * *
21. Prior to publication, West verifies that each
opinion originated with the court it purports to be
from and that the citation to cases and statutes within
each opinion are accurate. West corrects ministerial
errors, reformats and arranges the text of each are
accurate. West corrects ministerial errors, reformats
and arranges the test of each opinion it elects to
publish in West's style, and then prepares headnotes
and a synopsis for each opinion and adds parallel
citations. Finally, pursuant to editorial discretion,
the case reports within each volume are internally
arranged and additional material such as indices and
table of cases is prepared.
22. West's collection, selection and arrangement of
judicial decisions for publication, and the resulting
compilations of case reports containing editorial
enhancements, are wholly original to West and
constitute copyrightable subject matter.
* * *
26. MDC and Mead have copied for use in their LEXIS
database a substantial number of the case reports from
volumes of West's National Reporter System publications
..
27. MDC's and Mead's unauthorized reproduction for use
in their LEXIS database of a substantial number of the
case reports from volumes of West's National Reporter
System publications published since 1972 constitutes
copyright infringement ...
Alan D. Sugarman
President
HyperLaw, Inc. ®
Publisher of Federal Appeals on Disc tm CD-ROM
sugarman@hyperlaw.com
212-787-2812
212-496-4138 (fax)
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