West Can’t Bar Others From Copying Opinions

The nation’s leading publisher of court cases cannot bar others from copying the text of the legal opinions of judges across the country, a federal judge has decided in a copyright case. The ruling by U.S. District Judge John S. Martin could increase competition among legal publishers and reduce the cost of legal research by threatening the dominance of West Publishing. Martin said sharing the text was fair since the published decisions were actually the work of federal judges. The ruling came in a case in which a company known as Hyperlaw Inc. conceded that it plans to scan up to 75% of West Publishing cases into its computer system. “It seems fundamentally unfair to allow Hyperlaw to take advantage of the substantial time and expense West has invested in its reporters by engaging in wide-ranging copying of the opinions published by West,” the judge wrote. “On the other hand, the opinions published by West are written, not by West, but by federal judges, and it seems unfair to say that West can preclude anyone from copying what is basically a government document,” he said.