Fastcase, Inc. v. Lawriter LLC

Filing 17

MOTION for Summary Judgment with Brief In Support by Fastcase, Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Brief Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment, # 2 Statement of Material Facts, # 3 Exhibit Declaration of Edward J. Walters, # 4 Text of Proposed Order Granting Motion for Summary Judgment)(Brazier, Robert) --Please refer to http://www.gand.uscourts.gov to obtain the Notice to Respond to Summary Judgment Motion form contained on the Court's website.-- Modified on 5/13/2016 to edit exhibit text. (aaq).

THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
ATLANTA DIVISION
FASTCASE, INC.,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
LAWRITER LLC, dba CASEMAKER, )
)
Defendant.
)
_______________________________ )

Case 1:16-cv-00327-TCB
PLAINTIFF’S STATEMENT
OF UNDISPUTED FACTS

Plaintiff Fastcase, Inc., submits that there is no genuine issue to be tried with
regard to the following facts:
1.

Fastcase is a legal research service that provides online access to

searchable databases of public law, including federal and state statutes (all 50
states and the District of Columbia), administrative rules and regulations such as
the Georgia Administrative Rules and Regulations, and judicial decisions, as well
as to secondary sources in many states. Declaration of Edward J. Walters at 1, ¶ 2.
2.

Fastcase is available by subscription to lawyers and law firms, and is

also made available for free to members of state bar associations such as the State
Bar of Georgia as a benefit of membership in the bar. Id. at 2, ¶ 5.
3.

Lawriter is a legal research service that similarly offers searchable

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access to cases, statutes, and other primary law materials operating under the name
Casemaker. Id., ¶ 6.
4.

Lawriter represents that it “is the designated publisher of the Georgia

Rules and Regulations and Monthly Bulletins and granted sole rights to the
distribution of this data.” Doc. 4-1.
5.

On December 21, 2015, Lawriter sent Fastcase a letter asserting that:

(a) Lawriter is the sole “party authorized to license and/or offer subscriptions to
use . . . Electronic Files . . . incorporating the [Georgia Regulations],” and (b)
Fastcase’s provision of fee-based access to Georgia Regulations, without
Lawriter’s consent or authorization or a subscription with Lawriter, violates
Lawriter’s “legal rights.” Declaration of Edward J. Walters at 2-3, ¶ 9 and Doc. 43.
6.

The

letter

threatened

enforcement,

including

through

the

commencement of litigation, of Lawriter’s unspecified “rights,” unless Fastcase:
(a) immediately provided Lawriter a written response justifying its right to use
Georgia Regulations, (b) purchased from Lawriter a subscription to Georgia
Regulations, or (c) ceased use of Georgia Regulations, including provision of feebased access to Georgia Regulations. Doc. 4-3.
7.

Lawriter publishes the Georgia Regulations directly from the agencies
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of the State of Georgia. See Doc. 13 at 7, ¶ 39.
8.

At about the same time that Lawriter withdrew its counterclaims, the

page of the Georgia Secretary of State’s web site providing access to Georgia
Rules and Regulations, http://rules.sos.ga.gov, was changed.

Declaration of

Edward J. Walters at 3, ¶ 12; see Doc. 14 at 4, ¶ 17 and Doc. 14-1.
9.

Instead of providing direct access to the Georgia Regulations, the web

site now announces that “certain features of this site have been disabled for the
general public to prevent digital piracy.” Declaration of Edward J. Walters at 4, ¶
13 and Doc. 14-1.
10.

Where the Secretary of State formerly had offered the services of

Lawriter to provide research and printed copies of regulatory materials for stated
fees, its website now says:
To access this website, you must agree to the following:
These terms of use are a contract between you and/or your employer
(if any), and Lawriter, LLC.
You agree that you will not copy, print, or download anything from
this website other than for your personal use.
You agree not to use any web crawler, scraper, or other robot or
automated program or device to obtain data from the website.
You agree that you will not sell, will not license, and will not
otherwise make available in exchange for anything of value, anything
that you download, print, or copy from this site.
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Declaration of Edward J. Walters at 4, ¶ 14 and Doc. 14-1.
11.

Even while Lawriter “denies that it purports to have exclusive rights

to publish the Georgia Regulations,” it “affirmatively states that it has the
exclusive right to control commercial access to the Georgia Regulations as
compiled and made available on-line by Defendant.” Doc. 14 at 2, ¶¶ 3, 4.
12.

Lawriter also claims “legal and equitable rights in electronic files it

creates and maintains” relating to the laws, rules and regulations of other States.
Doc. 14 at 3, ¶ 7.
13.

As Fastcase updates its collection of the Georgia Regulations from the

Georgia Secretary of State website, these purported license terms attempt to
exclude Fastcase and any other commercial user of the Georgia Regulations.
Declaration of Edward J. Walters at 5, ¶ 17.
Respectfully submitted this 12th day of May 2016.
BAKER, DONELSON, BEARMAN,
CALDWELL & BERKOWITZ, P.C.
/s/ Robert G. Brazier
Robert G. Brazier (Georgia Bar No. 078918)
[e-mail]
Steven G. Hall (Georgia Bar No. 319308)
[e-mail]
Joshua Tropper (Georgia Bar No. 716790)
[e-mail]
Monarch Plaza, Suite 1600
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3414 Peachtree Road N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30326
Telephone [phone]
Facsimile [phone]
Attorneys for Plaintiff Fastcase, Inc.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
I hereby certify that the foregoing has been prepared with Times New
Roman 14-point, which is one of the font and point selections approved by the
court in LR 5.1B.
/s/ Robert G. Brazier
Robert G. Brazier
Georgia Bar No. 078918
[e-mail]

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THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
ATLANTA DIVISION
FASTCASE, INC.,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
LAWRITER LLC, dba CASEMAKER, )
)
Defendant.
)
_______________________________ )

Case 1:16-cv-00327-TCB

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on May 12, 2016, I electronically filed PLAINTIFF'S
STATEMENT OF UNDISPUTED FACTS with the Clerk of Court using the
CM/ECF system which will automatically send email notification of such filing to
the following attorney of record:
Kurt M. Rozelsky (Bar No. 617932)
[e-mail]
Joseph W. Rohe (Bar No. 727154)
[e-mail]
2 West Washington Street, Suite 1100
P.O. Box 87
Greenville, SC 29602
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]

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This 12th day of May, 2016.
BAKER, DONELSON, BEARMAN,
CALDWELL & BERKOWITZ, P.C.
/s/ Robert G. Brazier
Robert G. Brazier
Georgia Bar No. 078918

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