Earlier postings have referred to West Publishing's complaint
against On Point Solutions in the US District Court in Atlanta. The
complaint seeks damages and an injunction for alleged misappropriation of
plaintiff West's Florida case reports published in West's "Southern
Reporter" (see civil action no. 1 93 CV 2071). West alleges that On Point
scanned its books, "including all of the copyrighted elements of the
books, and created an infringing CD-ROM database which they then marketed
and sold to third parties in violation of federal and state laws". The
defendant claims it removed West's headnotes, key numbers, and synopses.
Whatever the factual merits of this case, it is interesting to
note that West is also claiming copyright in the volume and page numbers
of its reports. Paragraph 16 of the complaint reads as follows:
Each volume of West's NRS publications includes a copyright notice
and contains material wholly original to West including, without
limitation, the editorial enhancements to each case report as specified
in paragraph 10, and the selection, coordination and arrangement of cases
reported therein, *including the numbering and paging of volumes which
reflect that arrangement*. (Emphasis added.)
I think this particular claim deserves attention from the legal
community. It is one thing to claim copyright in the headnotes and case
synopses, and quite another to seek copyright protection in pagination.
This is especially so where the publisher is the sole source of a primary
legal publication (for example, the F.2d and F. Supp. volumes).
If West is again successful on this narrow issue, see West v. Mead
Data Central, 799 F.2d 1219 (8th Cir., 1986), we may never see a competing
CD-ROM or online version of federal case law that contains what I feel is
essential pagination information. Any thoughts on this? Does the ability
to cite effectively to the print product matter in an electronic version?
Scott Wetzel
eswetzel@cyberspace.com
(206) 623-1688
CD Law, Inc., 1000 2nd Ave., Suite 1610 Seattle WA 98104
(a small state law CD-ROM publisher)
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