Comparison of Research Sources for IP Statutes
Statutes are laws passed by Congress or a state legislature that apply to the future conduct of the general public. There are four basic types of statutory publications; slip laws, session laws, codes, and annotated codes.Slip laws are legislative enactments which are separately and promptly published in a pamphlet or a single sheet after its passage. Session laws are the name commonly given to the body of laws that are enacted a legislature at one of its annual or biennial sessions. Session laws consist of a compilation of slip laws that are bound by session. Codes consist of a compilation of all the permanent laws in force consolidated and classified according to subject matter. Annotated codes include selected codes that are cross referenced to cases that interpret the statutory section.
Statutes are "published" in four different mediums; print, CD-ROM, On-line Services and the Internet. Each medium has its advantages as well as its disadvantages in terms of access, quality of information, and cost.
The print versions for slip laws consist of an official version and an unofficial version. The public laws, the official version, are laws that are separately issued and contain only a single act. There is no subject index, you can find the act by date and title only. The unofficial version is contained within the publication the U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News (USSCAN). USSCAN contains legislative history, public laws and executive orders that are published monthly. Unlike slip laws, USSCAN does have an index, however, the index is somewhat complicated and hard to figure out.
Session laws are contained within the Statutes at Large. This is the official text of the statutes of each session. This publication is listed by chronological order by the date the laws were passed. It is a slow publication and the index is deceiving because it stands as a unit and does not index across all the volumes of laws in force. Session laws can also be found in USSCAN.
The official primary version of statutes is contained within the U.S. Codes. This is arranged by subjects or "titles". There are 50 different titles that can be found referred to in its general index. The index is specific to each area of law and extremely thorough. For IP topics, you can best pinpoint the subject you are searching by searching directly under the area of law it pertains to (Copyrights, Trademarks or Patents). An index which contains a list of "Popular Names" of Acts is also found. The U.S.C. also contains tables of the revised Statutes at Large and Executive Orders, and cross references related to various sections of the Code. The U.S.C. is reissued every 6 years and updated between editions by supplements.
There are various secondary sources that are more specific to IP law. These sources are most useful when you know the exact topic that you are searching. However, these sources are not updated in a patterned periodic fashion. I found some of the information to no longer apply. However, it is a good source for information and clarification of statutes; you should just be cautioned to check the information in another form that is more current. For patents, there is Chisum on Patents. This is a well indexed publication that covers most every patent issue. The statutes listed in this index is by title. If you don't know the title of the Act, the best way to access the statute is by looking for the topic and scanning the text that is related to your topic.
For Trademark help, you can look to Gilson on Trademarks. This publication consists of several volumes. The index is hard to locate within each volume because it is placed in different areas within the volumes as a collection. Each volume contains different topics of Trademark law. Volume 2 entitled "Statutes and Regulations" is the volume I would browse for relevant statutory information.
There are two different secondary sources that I reviewed for Copyrights. Nimmer on Copyright and Boorstyn on Copyright. Nimmer consists of six volumes. Each volume contains a separate topic area, one of which is entitled "Statutes, Regulations and Legislative History. Boorstyn on Copyright is very comparable to Nimmer. They are nearly interchangeable. Boorstyn has an extensive index, however, statutes must be found by scanning related text or by finding the name of the Act in the index.
The two main sources for annotated codes are the U.S. Code Annotated (USCA) and the U.S. Code Service (USCS). USCA is published by West Publications. It contains a good in-depth index to each topic within intellectual property. It cross references to the CFR, USSCCAN, West topic and Key numbers, CJS, and other West published sources. It is updated frequently with pocket parts. The USCS is published by the Lawyers Coop. It contains two indexes, a general subject index and a Popular Name index which indexes the name of each Act. The USCS cross references to selected CFR and Lawyer's Coop Published sources and also includes annotations to PTO decisions. The two publications are interchangeable, it only depends upon the range of sources that you want to access. The USCA is very helpful because of the number of sources it can lead you easily to, including West topic and Key numbers that are also helpful for on-line searching. The USCS has annotations to PTO decisions which makes it a helpful source for finding IP topics. The USCS is also updated frequently with pocket parts.
The Print versions are useful and get the job done, however, if you are short on time, on-line sources provide all the information that print does at a much quicker rate. Westlaw and Lexis, combined provide a copy and a good index for all the various primary and secondary print sources for slip laws, session laws, and annotated codes. Westlaw and Lexis do not provide the codes in an unannotated version.
For slip laws and session laws, USSCAN on Westlaw can be used to find the relevant statutes. USSCAN is found in the Legislative History (LH) database which contains congressional committee reports that set out the legislative history of congressional bills and public laws. Documents in this database include House, Senate and Conference Committee reports on a bill, public law or a signing statement. The documents contained from 1948 - 1990 are the legislative history of public laws form USSCAN. From 1990 to the present, the database contains all congressional committee reports, including reports on bills that did not become law. Reports are added as soon as it is filed and public law numbers are added when they are available.
Another source for slip laws and session laws is contained within the PUBLAW database in Lexis. It contains full text of all public laws as enacted by Congress. Documents are displayed in numerical order by public law number. The files within this database are updated soon after a law is enacted and is available usually within 10 working days after the laws are signed.
The most recent "hot" topics that pertain to intellectual property law can be found in the various "hot topic" database on both Westlaw and Lexis. HOTLAW on Lexis lists the Substantive Specialty Areas of the Law, Recent Developments. These are legal, issue related updates that contain an analysis of the legal issue plus a pre-formulated search on Lexis. This database can be accessed through the Patent, Trademark or Copyright file. It is updated at least weekly. The equivalent "hot" database on Westlaw is the Westlaw Topical Highlights - Intellectual Property. This contains documents prepared by the editorial staff of the West Publishing Company that summarize rent development sin intellectual property law. It covers activity in the federal and state courts, the U.S. Congress, and federal and state administrative agencies. New documents are include don a daily basis. There is little difference between the two "hot" sources. Lexis offers a more detailed link by specific area of IP, however, it is not updated as frequently. Both are very similar equally reliable.
Exclusive to slip laws is the U.S. Public Laws database on Westlaw. It contains slip laws of full text that may be included in the database before the document is available with full editorial enhancements. It is current through P.L. 105-9 which includes public laws passed during the first session for the 105th Congress.
The Congressional Record - Trademark, Patent & Copyright, Unfair Competition database (RECORD) shows the issues that will be addressed during the specific session. It also includes full text of the bill or resolution and the names of the speakers on the floor that are responding to the bill.
Bill Tracking on Westlaw can be used to find session laws. It contains summaries and status information concerning the current federal legislation. It also includes a session calendar and a report on the status of the current session. This is updated daily.
There are no primary on-line sources for U.S. Codes. However, Lexis contains several secondary sources. Nimmer on Copyright, Chisum on Patents, and Gilson on Trademark Protection and Practice can be found in the Lexis database. These are mainly text books than give further clarification and information on the IP topics. They are updated within three weeks of receipt of new material, however, new material is infrequently submitted.
There are many on-line sources of annotated codes. The USCA is contained on Westlaw. Just as its print equivalent, it contains documents for titles of the USCA and includes court rules, appendices and a popular name table. It incorporates recent changes enacted by the public laws and court rules.. The USCS is on Lexis. It is the computerized version of the print text. It covers all that the print version covers but allows easier access because of the different types of searches you can perform on Lexis. It is updated twice a month.
Federal Intellectual Property - USCA on Westlaw (FIP-USCA) contains specific intellectual property documents that include subjects pertaining to the acquisition of, and protection afforded by, a copyright, patent or trademark. Because of its specificity to IP, the USCA database should not be used unless you are searching for topics outside the realm of IP.
The USCS file on the Patent, Trademark or Copyright Libraries lead you directly to the statutes that are specific to each area. USCS Title 35 for Patents, USCS Title 15 for Trademark and USCS Title 17 for Copyright are the relevant statutes for those areas.
Statutes do not only pertain to laws passed by Congress but also to laws passed by the various state legislatures. The easiest way to find applicable state statutes are through the on-line sources. Westlaw seems to encompass the most thorough databases for state searching. Slip laws can be found in the Multistate Legislative Service database (LEGIS-ALL) . This database contains documents passed by the legislative bodies of all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and include selected documents proposing legislation by initiative measure or proposition. Session laws are found in the ST-BILLS database which is a multibase which combines State Billtrack with the State Bill text. It contains summary bill tracking materials for all states, as well as the full text of bills from all states. It also includes a session calendar and a report on the status of the current session.
The actual state statutes are contained in an unannotated and an annotated form on Westlaw. The Unannotated Statues or documents of articles, paragraphs, or sections of the state statutes or sections of the articles of each state's constitution. The annotated Statues also include documents form all the U.S. States and its territories, however, coverage for each state is different. You must look to the particular state for cross reference materials.
Generally, I find the on-line services to be a more better source for IP statutes. Most databases include the indexes found in the print versions, but it also allows you to perform other searches that are not available in the print formats. They are generally updated more frequently than the print versions and offer more cross reference materials or links to other relevant sources of information. Of course, all of this ease comes with a price. The databases on each on-line service are priced differently. There are general database rates as well as "specialty" billing rates, "All-file" billing rates and "highlights" billing rates.
However, the print versions are the "Official" source for statutes. All the information found on the on-line services can be accessed through the various print sources. It just takes a little more time and a little more patience.
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