Ride the Lightning

11th Circuit Rules That Fastcase Can Bring Copyright Suit Against Casemaker

November 1, 2018

I am fortunate to have a lot of good friends in the legal tech industry – but Ed Walters is one of the brightest – and he has proven to be quite a warrior in court.

As reported in The ABA Journal, the 11th Circuit has ruled that legal research company Fastcase can bring a suit against rival company Casemaker regarding the latter’s claims of control over Georgia’s administrative regulations.

The appeal, decided Monday, stemmed from two previously unsuccessful lawsuits brought by Fastcase against Casemaker, which is owned by Lawriter, both of which were dismissed. U.S. Circuit Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat writing for the unanimous panel found that the most recent case, filed in February 2017, was incorrectly dismissed.

“This is a procedural win that allows us to go to the district court, to hear this case on its merits,” Fastcase CEO Ed Walters told the ABA Journal. “Now, the district court can decide if a private company can lock up a public law with terms of service or a copyright.”

At issue is an agreement that Casemaker made with the Georgia secretary of state, which gives Casemaker exclusive publishing rights to the Georgia regulations. This agreement also gives Casemaker the capability to license that content to others for a fee.

Having brought two previous cases, this appeal affects the latter filed in 2017. In that case, U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten dismissed Fastcase’s claims for lack of jurisdiction. Dismissing without prejudice, Batten ruled that the claims did not present a cause of action under federal law and failed to meet the $75,000 amount in controversy.

The appeals court disagreed on both grounds, finding that there was jurisdiction. The case has been remanded back to the trial court.

This decision follows a separate 11th Circuit ruling from last week that found Georgia’s official annotated state code is not copyrightable and belongs in the public domain. Hurray for that one too.

Walters thinks last week’s ruling puts his lawsuit in a good position. While praising Casemaker and its team, he says in the attempt to control Georgia’s administrative code they “lost their way, and we’re going to help them find their way back.” I can almost see the twinkle in Ed's eyes as he said these words.

E-mail:    Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Information Security/Information Technology
https://www.senseient.com
https://twitter.com/sharonnelsonesq
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharondnelson
https://amazon.com/author/sharonnelson