Very interesting (at least to lawyers) post on Slaw about a class action proceeding against Thomson Reuters. In short Thomson has started offering a service where it charges a fee to access a database comprised of pleadings filed by lawyers in court.

Raises a whole number of issues, both in respect of the ownership of the materials themselves and what implied licenses, if any, are being granted by lawyers in filing them with the court, whether to the court, participants in the court and the general public, as well as copyright not necessarily in the materials but the database created by Thomson (which of course in and of itself has value).

Not the first time it’s happened. There was a claim by Milberg Weiss (or at least the threat of a claim) a few years ago. Not sure what happened with it.