Canadian lawyers have launched a copyright class action lawsuit against Thomson Reuters. The lawsuit stems from the use of legal documents filed in court proceedings in a database marketed by the company.
Lawyers Launch Copyright Class Action Against Thomson Reuters
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And yet, their CCH victory allowing them to copy other people’s material without permission and payment would seem to argue against them on this!
Copyright on court records?
Perhaps something should be done to prevent a private company from profiting from court records, but suing for copyright infringement puts the transparency and accessiblity of the judicial system in jeopardy. Scan and post all court documents on the web. Problem solved.
@Democrat
To a point I agree with you. I would argue, however, that court documents related to anything other than the charges themselves should not be publicly available until after the trial. The reason is to try to ensure jury neutrality. Posting prior to trial could lead to making it more difficult to get a jury.
@Bob: agreed. However, if the publishers of the books in the Law Society library get permission from the legal firms in the first place prior to publishing the references, then arguably the CCH decision doesn’t apply.