Legal Publishing and Database Protection
Legal Publishing and Database Protection
by
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 2
Litigation and Consolidation 3
I. A Brief History 3
II. The First Big Challenge: Mead Data Central v. West Publishing Co. 4
III. The Tide Turns: Feist and Industry Consolidation 4
IV. Thomson Buys Legal Publishers, Prompts Antitrust Investigation 6
V. Industry Litigation Spreads: The Bender, Hyperlaw and Oasis Cases 7
VI. The Industry after Bender: Legal Publishers Consolidate 10
VII. The Business of Legal Publishing in 2004 11
VIII. Proposed Legislative Protection 13
IX. Existing Legal Protections 15
Conclusion 16
Appendix A- Trademarks 18
Appendix B- Patents 26
Appendix C- Copyrights 28
Appendix D- Acquisitions Timeline 32
Introduction
When it comes to legal data, lawyers and their clients are willing to pay a premium for accuracy, speed, quality and ease of use. As such, the legal information market is highly profitable and has been so for the last 120 years. Lawyers have long demonstrated a willingness to pay for up-to-the-minute access to information in an easily accessible format. While there are currently discount and “free” sources of law, attorneys have demonstrated a preference for the more expensive services.
The providers of these services, legal publishers, have litigated against each other over their copyright in court decisions since the early nineteenth century.[1] United States copyright law has been tailored to encourage publication of court decisions by for-profit compilers.[2] As such, “no reporter has or can have any copyright in the written opinions delivered by th[e] court; and . . . the judges thereof cannot confer on any reporter any such right,” but reporters have a copyright interest in their own reporting of the court’s decisions.[3] To remain competitive against low-cost providers of legal information, legal publishers have jealously guarded their
by
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 2
Litigation and Consolidation 3
I. A Brief History 3
II. The First Big Challenge: Mead Data Central v. West Publishing Co. 4
III. The Tide Turns: Feist and Industry Consolidation 4
IV. Thomson Buys Legal Publishers, Prompts Antitrust Investigation 6
V. Industry Litigation Spreads: The Bender, Hyperlaw and Oasis Cases 7
VI. The Industry after Bender: Legal Publishers Consolidate 10
VII. The Business of Legal Publishing in 2004 11
VIII. Proposed Legislative Protection 13
IX. Existing Legal Protections 15
Conclusion 16
Appendix A- Trademarks 18
Appendix B- Patents 26
Appendix C- Copyrights 28
Appendix D- Acquisitions Timeline 32
Introduction
When it comes to legal data, lawyers and their clients are willing to pay a premium for accuracy, speed, quality and ease of use. As such, the legal information market is highly profitable and has been so for the last 120 years. Lawyers have long demonstrated a willingness to pay for up-to-the-minute access to information in an easily accessible format. While there are currently discount and “free” sources of law, attorneys have demonstrated a preference for the more expensive services.
The providers of these services, legal publishers, have litigated against each other over their copyright in court decisions since the early nineteenth century.[1] United States copyright law has been tailored to encourage publication of court decisions by for-profit compilers.[2] As such, “no reporter has or can have any copyright in the written opinions delivered by th[e] court; and . . . the judges thereof cannot confer on any reporter any such right,” but reporters have a copyright interest in their own reporting of the court’s decisions.[3] To remain competitive against low-cost providers of legal information, legal publishers have jealously guarded their