Alan Sugarman

Working On

Access to Law

Alan Sugarman founded HyperLaw in 1991. HyperLaw was the first publisher to distribute US Supreme Court and US courts of appeal decisions on CD-ROM. At the time, appellate decisions were only published in West’s Federal Reporter, and West threatened HyperLaw with copyright infringement. HyperLaw sued West—successfully—for a declaration that West did not have a valid copyright in its citations or the text of court opinions. (You can read more about the lawsuit and see all the pleadings at HyperLaw.com.)

In 2017, I discussed HyperLaw and the lawsuit against West Publishing with Alan on The Lawyerist Podcast:

Published on January 21st, 2021. Last updated on March 23rd, 2021, by Sam Glover.