copyright infringement

Earlier this month Sara Glassmeyer, Librarian, Lawyer and
Information Provocateur published an important new study outlining the
substantial shortcomings of “free” digital,  legal information in the United States. Glassmeyer has spent the past year as a Fellow at the Harvard Library Innovation Lab and has produced what I believe is the first comprehensive census on

 “Works of Scholarship have
long cited primary sources or academic works to provide sources for facts to
incorporate previous scholarship, and to bolster arguments. The ideal citation
connects an interested reader to what the author references, making it easy to
track, down, verify and learn more from the indicated sources.” 
from Perma: Scoping

It is more than a year  since Judge Rakoff dismissed Edward White’s case against Westlaw and Lexis for copyright infringement. A memo explaining the rationale was promised and it has finally been delivered. On July
3, 2014,  Judge Rakoff released a Memorandum and Order which provides a fair use analysis of the decision and reaffirms the 2013 dismissal.

I have compiled a list of the most popular Dewey B Strategic  posts of 2013. Several themes run through the year. Innovation and reinvention are driving both law firms and legal publishing. There is a “David and Goliath” theme with new legal publishers challenging the dominant players — this theme emerges as well for law

On Friday, Judge Rakoff tossed out the  lawsuit brought by intellectual property lawyer Edward White last year against Lexis and Westlaw, according to a story in Thomson Reuters News and Insight. White claimed that Lexis and Westlaw had violated copyright law by including  his copyrighted legal documents in their online services.( Edward White v. West Publishing Corp, U.S.

A class action lawsuit (12 CV 1340) was filed in the Southern District of New York today by Edward White and Kenneth Elan and their respective law firms  against West Publishing  dba West and Reed Elsevier dba Lexis.I know you are thinking:  law review articles, chapters of legal treatises, a book of lawyer jokes,… poetry for lawyers…Wrong. The plaintiffs are

By Cynthia Sullivan

Note: Guest blogger Cindy Sullivan was previously VP of the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology Library at Fidelity Investments in Boston, Ma. Cindy has more than 25 years experience managing libraries in a global financial services organization, including remote library organizations. Cindy’s particular expertise has been focused on the strategic use of technology