This letter outlines our take on what legislative approach could be taken
with respect to citations public domain court opinions.
jamie
Taxpayer Assets Project
P.O. Box 19367; Washington, DC 20036
202/387-8030; Fax: 202/234-5176; love@tap.org
April 17, 1995
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary
Appropriations Committee
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
via fax: 202/224-6747 (voice: 202/224-3934)
Dear Senator Inouye,
I am writing to ask for your help in making federal court
opinions more widely available to the public. Specifically, in
this year's appropriation for the federal judiciary, we would
like the Senate to include language which would require every
federal court to provide access to court opinions over the
Internet, with a citation that is in the public domain.
As you may know, West Publishing currently asserts
copyright to the citations to the West bound reporters of
federal court decisions. Because West is the only publisher in
print of all federal courts, this has created a monopoly on the
citations to the law.
Secondly, West Publishing claims that it owns through
copyright the "corrections" to the text of federal court
opinions that it publishes. Because many courts only give
corrections to West Publishing, the West copyright gives the
firm a monopoly on the version of the opinions that is
considered by many judges and academics to be the only corrected
and final record of published case law.
Federal judges are public employees, whose salary is paid
for by the taxpayers, create the law the public is expected to
obey. It is outrageous that a private company has gained a
monopoly on the citations and corrections to the case law of the
federal courts.
Much of this dispute concerns copyright assertions by West
that are being tested in the courts. However, regardless of the
outcome of that litigation, the courts have a responsibility to
address this serious problem, and to take affirmative steps to
place this important information on the Internet where it would
be more widely accessible.
At present, all the federal circuit court of appeals and
the Supreme Court disseminate opinions on electronic bulletin
boards and some of the appeals courts are beginning to use the
Internet to disseminate opinions, such as the 11th and 3rd
circuit appeals courts. However, there are many problems:
- Many circuits do not archive opinions. Indeed,
several circuits actually erase opinions from bulletin
boards after 90 days.
- Many district courts do not offer bulletin boards at
all, or refuse to disseminate opinions electronically,
even from diskette. For example, Judge Sporkin
recently refused to release the electronic version of
his decision in the Microsoft case.
- The Judicial Conference recently approved an
outrageous fee of $.75 per minute to disseminate
opinions. Such fees will eliminate many of the
episodic users, including the use of opinions by
school children and others who simply want to learn
more about court opinions on issues of interest.
- Many federal courts do not disseminate corrections to
opinions, except to West Publishing.
- Only the Supreme Court and the 6th circuit have
adopted a public domain citation systems. The Supreme
Court reporter, however, takes about 3 years to
appear. What is needed is a citation to the opinion
that is available the moment the opinion is made
public, as was proposed by the U.S. Administrative
Office of the Courts in 1991.
A simple clause in this year's federal court opinion would
solve these many problems. I recommend something like this:
Sec. XXX. Within 2 years of the passage of this act
every federal court shall make electronic
copies of all opinions and corrections to
all opinions available to the public via the
Internet. Each opinion shall contain
information that allows for citation to the
text of the opinion in a court of law. The
Administrative Office the Courts shall
provide an archive of all opinions
disseminated electronically.
This simple clause would settle the policy question of
whether or not court opinions should be in the public domain and
freely available to the taxpayers. Many library, legal,
business and public interest groups support this provision. I
would be happy to provide further information. I can be
contacted at 202/387-8030, or through the Internet at
love@tap.org. Thank you.
Sincerely
James Love, Director
Taxpayer Assets Project
P.O. Box 19376
Washington, DC 20036
----------------------------------------------------------------------
James Love, TAP; internet: love@tap.org
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036; v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176
12 Church Road, Ardmore, PA 19003; v. 610/658-0880; f. 610/649-4066
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