Today Brady Williamson, West Publishing Company's attorney, posted a press release on law-lib trying to place West's spin on the drubbing it took from Judge Friedman in his 52 page opinion in United States v. Thomson and West--much of which was spent deriding West's copyright claims to star-pagination and the damaging effect such claims have imposed on its competitors.
Compare what Judge Friedman stated at page 48:
"the court is forced to conclude that the licensing provision and thus the proposed final judgment ARE BEYOND 'THE REACHES OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST.'"with what West said about the same order
"a federal district court rejected the objections by competitors opposed to the transaction and found that the divestiture provisions of the proposed consent decree satisfied the public interests requirement of the Tunney Act."Judge Friedman made the following findings regarding West's star-pagination copyright claims:
"Like Judge Martin, this court has serious doubts about the continuing vitality of the Eighth Circuit's 1986 opinion in Mead Data in view of the subsequent decision of the Supreme Court in Feist. . .and it finds unpersuasive the reasoning in Oasis Publishing."* * *
"the Court is concerned that including the star pagination license provision in the Final Judgment might be construed as an endorsement of West's dubious copyright claim."* * *
"the weakness of West's claim and the limited market power of many of those who must pay the license fee, particularly now that the most economically powerful critic of West's position, Thomson, has lost its incentive to contest the claim and joins West in advancing it."* * *
"The asserted reasonableness of the proposed fees does not resolve the overarching problem that the establishment of a court-approved fee schedule gives Thomson/West permission to profit from its dubious copyright claim while maintaining by court order significant barriers to entry into the relevant markets identified in the complaint by smaller publishers, particularly the CD-ROM market."The Court concludes this analysis stating:
"The Court suggests that the public interest would be served if West and Thomson would agree to amend the license provisions in the Proposed Final Judgment. . .to provide a free license to all who request one until West's copyright claim is judicially resolved once and for all."
In West's press release, Thomson's president, Brian Hall, refers to this as "some technical details that have to be worked out."
Technical details like free licenses to anyone who wants them. Good spin control !!!
Judge Friedman, though constrained by the Microsoft case and compelled not to second-guess the 'approval' by the United States Department of Justice, documented the absurd positions of the DOJ--positions which will prove in the short term to be a political and professional embarrassment to both the Clinton administration and those in the DOJ who claim credit for this concoction.
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