Re: Public Domain Cite...West flip/flop again

From: Alan Sugarman (sugarman@hyperlaw.com)
Date: 04/18/95

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On Monday, Apr 17, 1994, Mr. Trittipo of West's main law firm wrote:

************* Trittipo Extract **********
Ms. Chick was right; Messrs. Lederer and Hartmann wrong. Simple fact:
Lexis uses (and has used since its inception in 1973) the "initial page
cites" without any license and without being sued for doing so, and so have
many other publishers.

Even if history weren't clear, Mr. Lederer could have read in the West brief
filed in Wisconsin:

"West Publishing does not object to other publishers using initial citations
to its case reports--the volume number, the West reporter designation, and
the first page number of the case report. It has stated that position
repeatedly and . . . consistently in deposition testimony, in the briefs it
has submitted in federal copyright cases, and in its statements to this
Court on March 21. . . . West has no objection to the use of initial
citations to its case reports, even by its competitors . . .."

************* End of Trittipo Extract ******

Mr. Trittipo, there you go again. Let us look at the full quotations in the
West supplemental brief, and the bracketed material which indicates the words
Mr. Trittipo chose to delete:

West Publishing does not object to other
publishers using initial citations to its case
reports--the volume number, the West reporter
designation, and the first page number of the
case report. It has stated that position
repeatedly and <-- contrary to the suggestion of
one of West's critics, Alan Sugarman, in his
letter to the Court--> consistently in deposition
testimony, in the briefs it has submitted in
federal copyright cases, and in its statements
to this Court on March 21. <Since> West has no
objection to the use of initial citations to its
case reports, even by its competitors <, those
initial citations are effectively "in the public
domain.>"

Now, West has now decided that just maybe it is not such a good idea to say
that "<, those
initial citations are effectively 'in the public domain.>', so, since it is
Monday, I guess West decided "let us just take out those few words".

In addition, no one from West et al has tried to explain what West meant in
this answer to the Bender Request for Admissions:

REQUEST FOR ADMISSION NO. 10:
West does not object to anyone, including
Matthew Bender, using First Page Citations for
any purpose.
WEST RESPONSE:
Denied.

Of course, West said it "in deposition testimony, in the briefs it has
submitted in federal copyright cases, and in its statements
to this Court " ... nothing was said about requests for admissions.

So, this is the explanation: