Keywords
Citation
Fitzsimmons, E. (1999), "Copyright decision could lower prices", The Bottom Line, Vol. 12 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.1999.17012aab.008
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Copyright decision could lower prices
Copyright decision could lower prices
Keywords: Copyright, Databases, Law
A federal appeals court ruled November 3 that the database of legal publisher West Publishing is not entitled to key copyright protection. If this ruling is upheld, other companies could copy and reprint parts of the text of West's published court decisions and use West's page-numbering system (the standard citation format for legal decisions) in their products.
According to some lawyers, the ruling could prompt greater competition and encourage lower-priced legal-research tools. In an interview with the Washington Post Jamie Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology, said, "Prices will probably now fall a lot and you're likely to see venture capitalists, who had been scared off by the legal cloud over this industry, start pouring money into all sorts of competitors."
However, The Post commented that the decision might be superseded by congressional action. Copyright protection for databases is likely to be a legislative priority next year.