Dear Google:
We the undersigned write:
Please buy Westlaw and Lexis/Nexis and break down the monopoly in information they give the legal industry. This monopolization of information has unjust effects.
There is much information in these archives and research tools. Critical to this petition, is that %u201CCourts may take judicial notice of publications introduced to %u2018indicate what was in the public realm at the time, not whether the contents of those articles were in fact true. Premier Growth Fund v. Alliance Capital Mgmt., 435 F.3d 396, 401 n.15 (3d Cir. 2001). Thus, newspapers, periodicals and journals can be introduced to the Court.
Likewise, access to the case law, and the construction of briefs is also critical to litigation. It is very frustrating to know that scholar.google.com represents one level of publicly-accessible functionality, and the so-called Wexis monopoly another. On the one hand, your user is perhaps desperately driven to it as an only resource, and on the other, it is one only money can buy.
One day, this type of information currently locked behind pay-portals will be publicly available, resulting in a disruption of the legal industry. Notably, this disruption will result in lower hourly rates for the consuming public, more transparency in the judicial arm, and a concommitant reduction in frivolous litigation.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
