For everyone' information:
Lois Law is a company that has been around about thirteen years. They put their
data online by OCR scanning and limit their materials to just the official
opinions and any headnotes added by the courts themselves. They also scan
statutes and session laws. Their method of acquiring data avoids the potential
lawsuit implications that arose from Jurisline's method, which was to download
from CD-ROM's purchased from Lexis. Lexis contends that their license agreements
should be a legal bar to Jurisline's building of their database. Jurisline
contends that the information they use, the court reports, etc., were not
copyrightable and therefore legal to use. The courts will decide. Lois Law, by
borrowing from hard copy for its backfiles, avoids any licensing issues. As I
understand it, both Jurisline and Lois Law update their current cases directly
from the courts and legislatures, as do Lexis and Westlaw. Lois Law also has
some licensing arrangements with Lexis. Lois Law also has some decent capital
behind it. I would consider Lois Law a major player now.
The San Diego County Pubic Law Library does not currently subscribe to Lois Law,
and we do subscribe to Lexis and Westlaw. But Lois Law's lower pricing,
especially for nationwide flat rate, makes them a serious contender for our long
range plans to stop our hard copy collection efforts, especially for out of
state materials.
Charles Dyer
"Valdivia, Eve I." wrote:
> You're referring to:
>
> http://www.jurisline.com
>
> Eve Valdivia
> Spiegel & McDiarmid
> Washington, DC
> eve.valdivia@spiegelmcd.com
> http://www.spiegelmcd.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: karenpdo@gate.net [mailto:karenpdo@gate.net]
> Sent: Friday, March 24, 2000 12:01 PM
> To: David Leone; 'law-lib'
> Subject: Re: LoisLaw.com
>
> Loislaw *sounds good - we were offered a trial after a demo as well
> but I
> wasn't impressed; the libraries are not yet complete & the presentation was
> vague about when it would be... One SAPD tried it & thought the
> command/search structure was too unique/(had to be "learned"- new
> commands, etc.).
>
> I also found that while it may be convenient to have both subscriber
> exclusive material on the same page w/
> free interent links(to US code, etc.) - I didn't really care for that
> either...If you took away all of the
> internet links that you probably already have on your bookmarks, favorite
> site, etc., what's left?
> In light of the recent litigation between Lexis & that web site w/ *free
> case access(the name escapes me), I
> wouldn't put any money on a contract right now...but that's just my HO..
> Karen
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~~~~~~~
> Karen Mahnk, Research Librarian karenpdo@gate.net
> State of Florida Public Defender,
> 11th Judicial Circuit
> 1320 NW 14th Street, Suite 330
> Miami, Fl.,33125
> (305)545-1889 FAX (305)545-1694 ~~opinions are my own and not of my
> employer~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~~~~~~~
>
> At 08:48 AM 3/24/2000 -0600, David Leone wrote:
> >Several attorneys and paralegals at Waller Lansden have been contacted by
> >Loislaw.com offering 10-day trials. This has somewhat disturbed the
> >chairman of our library committee, since he feels, rightly so I think, that
> >Loislaw.com is an unknown entity and its reliability is in question.
> >
> >What can law-lib tell me about Loislaw.com? - any info would be
> appreciated.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >David Leone
> >Librarian
> >Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis
> >511 Union St. Ste. 2100
> >Nashville, TN 37219
> >voice: 615-244-6380
> >fax: 615-244-6804
> >
> >This message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to
> >which it is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged,
> >confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law.
> >
> >
> >
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