The cost of records can be as effective a bar to access as a statutory exemption from disclosure.In follow up to our post here about state charges for public records, two more cases have grabbed headlines in less than a week. This time Vermont is charging $1,700 for the state employees union to look at records on job cuts (covered locally in Vermont), and here by the Boston Globe.  In a similar vein, an Illinois resident was deterred by cost when trying to access records on her elected public officials.  

Section 102 of the Copyright Act prevents protection from inhering in systems, methods of operations, et cetera.  How far does a copyright in a board game go?  Scrabble (Hasbro) has recently filed suit against "Scrabulous" a popular facebook application that bears several similarities to the popular word game.  The reason: Scrabulous is more popular than the authorized Electronic Arts version.  Liability will depend on how much like the game the application is, for example, are the point values the same?  Is the placement of the double/triple scores the same?  

According to news reports, the New Jersey Supreme Court has clarified its public records law.  The government must respond to a request in seven days--either granting access or denying them.  The Court found that litigation over public records production must commence within 45 days and that the state must pay attorneys fees if they either lose or the documents were produced in response to the litigation.

 The opinion is here.  

Some states, most recently Wisconsin, have held that when the government outsources management of public records to a private party, the government cannot use the outsourcing to escape its obligations under the open records law.  On the federal level, a similar issue is working through the courts under the Freedom of Information Act.  More specifically, the ACLU has sued a private, for-profit prison company for access to records that, if in the hands of the federal government, would be accessible under the law.  A summary of the case, and the legislation that's been introduced around it, is here.

There is a line of copyright cases that never really fit neatly within the confines of the idea/expression dichotomy.  According to some Ninth Circuit decisions, a defendant may be liable for appropriation of the "total concept and feel" of the plaintiff's works.  (This occurred most notably in the greeting card context).  This theory has finally hit the big time.  Facebook has sued a german social networking site for knocking them off.