I was recently interviewed by a reporter for the Connecticut Law Tribune regarding an interesting Copyright case in Connecticut.  A lawyer is asserting his copyright interests in a legal brief he filed with court.  Now that same lawyer is suing Westlaw and Lexis for infringing his copyright, because Westlaw and Lexis have copied that brief and is making available to their clients for a fee.  When I used to litigate, I remember a common practice among attorneys was to use their opponents particularly well written legal briefs as a template for their briefs, copying was and is rampant!  However, these briefs were usually only seen and paid attention to by a few people.  When Westlaw and Lexis publishes these same briefs, I suspect tens of thousands, or even more people see these same briefs.  My gut tells me that the courts will not find that there has been copyright infringement, because not only would Westlaw and Lexis by liable, but any lawyer, paralegal, or law student would be liable for copying briefs they find!  We shall see.