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Legal Writing Prof Blog: Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Copyright ...

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February 23, 2012

Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Copyright Protection for Trial and Appellate Briefs

Several lawyers are suing Westlaw and Lexis on the theory that trial and appellate briefs?sold by the?services are copyrighted.? The Wall Street Journal?reports:

Edward L. White, a Oklahoma City, Okla.,?lawyer, and Kenneth Elan, claim WestLaw and LexisNexis have engaged in ?unabashed wholesale copying of thousands of copyright-protected works created by, and owned by, the attorneys and law firms who authored them? ? namely publicly filed?briefs, motions and other legal documents.

In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, White and Elan are hoping to represent two classes of lawyers: ones who have obtained copyright registration of their works and ones who haven?t done so.

Will this mean a big payday for current and former trial and appellate brief writers?? What if those writers have also lifted passages from other briefs?? Lifting from other briefs without attribution is a common occurrence in practice, but could it subject the copying?attorney to liability for infringement?

(dbb)

February 23, 2012 | Permalink

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