Date: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 09:43:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: James McDonough <epin@access.digex.net>
Subject: EPIN Summary


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     SUMMARY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER
                  VOL. 4, NO. 20; October 21, 1994
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INDEX:

1. WEST MOBILIZES FORCES TO STOP DOJ PUBLIC DOMIAN INITIATIVE
2. AALL LEGAL CITATION TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP
3. CLINTON ADMINISTRATION WILL RE-SUBMIT NII BILLS NEXT YEAR
4. NTIA ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF $24 MILLION NII GRANT PROGRAM


1. WEST MOBILIZES FORCES TO STOP DOJ PUBLIC DOMIAN INITIATIVE: The
West Publishing Company (West) has mobilized the Minnesota
Congressional delegation, employees and their relatives and
friends, and two Washington, D.C. law firms and two
Washington-based public relations firm to battle a Department of
Justice (DOJ) move to study the possibility of establishing a
public domain legal citation system, and the apparent DOJ Antitrust
Division investigation of the Computer Assisted Legal Research
(CALR) industry. The Wall Street Journal reported such an
investigation in its October 3 edition. At least two dozen firms
have been interviewed or contacted in relation to the
investigation. West is the major player the CALR industry.
Meanwhile, the Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP), a Ralph Nader group
and one of the main proponents of the public domain system, held a
meeting this week of legal publishers to rally support for the
their cause. The meeting was the catalyst of a heated exchange of
email messages between West Spokesperson Dorothy Molstad and TAP
Director Jamie Love.

2. AALL LEGAL CITATION TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP: Members of the
American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) task force to study
the feasibility of establishing a public domain citation system
[EPIN, Vol. 4, No. 18, p. 140] include: Chair Lynn Foster,
librarian, U. of Ark.-Little Rock; Carolyn Ahearn; Shaw Pittman
librarian; Myrna Bennett of Shepard's; Martha Dragich of U Mo Law
Library; Bruce Kennedy of U Toledo Law Library; Marcia Koslov of
Wisconsin State Law Library; Bill Lindberg of West; Graham Marshall
of Butterworth; Fred Muller, NY State Reporter; Bob Oakley, of
Georgetown Law Library; Kyle Parker, LOIS; Rita Reusch, Univ of
Utah Law Library; Kent Walker, Deputy AG of the Department of
Justice; Kathy Welker, Librarian at 6th Circuit; Virginia Wise,
Lecturer at Harvard, and Monica Yunag, Mead Data Central.


3. CLINTON ADMINISTRATION WILL RE-SUBMIT NII BILLS NEXT YEAR: Vice
President Al Gore promised in a speech delivered last week (10/17)
in New York that the Clinton Administration would return to the
Congress to seek legislative reform necessary for implementation of
the national information infrastructure (NII). He said the
legislation failed to receive Congressional approval this year
because, Gore said, of a "barrage of special-interest attacks and
'non-negotiable' demands." He said the main opponents were the
Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). "I was tremendously
disappointed by the failure of reform legislation in this
Congress," Gore told the an audience gathered at the Center for
Communication.

4. NTIA ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF $24 MILLION NII GRANT PROGRAM:
Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown announced this month (10/12)
in Washington the 92 public-service institutions that will receive
national information infrastructure (NII) demostration grants from
the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and
Information Adminis- tration (NTIA). The awards, which total $24
million for the current fiscal year, are designed to provide access
to the information superhighway for every American.

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EPIN: For more information on the complete ELECTRONIC PUBLIC
INFORMATION NEWSLETTER and subscription rates contact:

James McDonough
Electronic Public Information Newsletter
epin@access.digex.net
Tel:/Fax: (301) 365-3621