Professor Paterson, whose article is cited above, filed an amicus brief in support of HyperLaw.

Patterson was prescient as to the Oregon claims – in the brief he states in his concluding paragraph:

“Moreover, although state judicial opinions are not the subject of this litigation, this Court may take judicial notice of West’s claim for copyright of the opinions of state judges. Oasis Pub. Co. v. West Pub. Co., 924 F. Supp. 918 (D. Minn. 1996). A ruling for West in this case will serve as precedent for West’s claim of copyright for state law. But in our federal system, states are sovereign entities, Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 609, 116 S. Ct. 1114, 1122 (1996) (”each State is a sovereign entity in our federal system”), and the sovereign that makes law has a duty to provide the public with access to that law. Thus, adopting West’s argument, federal copyright for law that vests control of access to the law in a private publisher means two things: 1) The federal government has abdicated a sovereign duty and, in doing so, 2) the federal government has invaded the sovereignty of state governments./Footnote25 Section 105 prevents the first, section 103 prevents the second.”

His Footnote 25 states;

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that copyright law is exclusively federal law. Thus, the copyright statute preempts state law and denies the states any right to adjudicate the claim of West that it has a copyright for state law. 17 U.S.C. § 301.

The opinions and documents are to be found at my web site http://www.hyperlaw.com

Alan