IP Law: Copyright

1. Secondary sources

Secondary sources serve two primary purposes in legal research:

• They provide context and essential information concerning the zeitgeist of the law and
• They provide citations to relevant statutes and cases

Using secondary sources, you only need to find one case on point. From there, you can use the following methods to expand your collection of relevant cases. This is why the Rombauer Method begins with Preliminary Analysis. During the preliminary analysis, be sure to note secondary sources that have useful and current case citations and note cases that appear frequently. 

2. Headnotes and Key Numbers

Lexis+  Headnotes

LexisNexis Headnotes show the key legal points of each case. They are written by a LexisNexis legal editor and serve as a great jumping off point for more legal research. LexisNexis has a function called "More Like This Headnote" which allows a researcher to find other cases in the same jurisdiction dealing with the same issue as noted in the headnote. 

Westlaw Key Numbers

The West Key Number System is a classification system that helps legal researchers find relevant case law quickly. The system works by placing a "Key Number" next to a legal topic. These key numbers are then subdivided to match subsequent topics that are subparts of the overarching legal doctrine. The Key number for copyright law is 99. A researcher can go to the West Key Note page, scroll down to 99, click on the link, and find all the other Key numbers related to Copyright law. These subdivisions grow in specificity with each key number, helping researchers narrow down cases that are relevant to their research topic. Every case on Westlaw has a Key number. Therefore, once you know the Key number of your topic, you can find all the related cases on West. Further, West editors create headnotes that have a Key Number designation. Researchers can use these headnotes and their corresponding Key Numbers to find more cases with the same designation. 

Westlaw excels at connecting relevant pieces of information together through its use of the Key Numbering system, headnotes, citing, and referencing decisions. Finding cases through this system is easy and intuitive and allows a researcher to compile relevant and related cases quickly. 

3. Keyword searching

Keyword searching is the least effective method of finding relevant cases. You must carefully construct an advanced search using Boolean connectors to find cases through keyword searching. When using a keyword search, be sure to limit your search using the available filters. For example, if you are looking for case law, exclude secondary sources, statutes, regulations, etc. from your results. Further, consider limiting your search to only the synopsis and headnote fields. This can be more effective than searching the entire text because it focuses your search on the major issues as described in the headnotes. Further, you can limit your databases by only searching with Lexis' Copyright Case Database or Westlaw's Copyright Cases Databases.

4. Key Citing/"Citing References" (Westlaw) and Shephards/"Citing Decisions" (Lexis on known Cases)

 Both KeyCite and Shepard's are editorial citators that allow you to expand your research by looking at cases that have been cited back to a known case. A citator is a tool that will provide you with a list of everything that has ever cited your document. Westlaw uses different colored flags to indicate the treatment certain cases have received from other courts.  Shephards uses various colored symbols to do likewise. These indicators allow you evaluate the currentness and quality of a case. Further, KeyCite and Shepards provide citing references that have cited back to the case at hand.  This allows you to find cases covering similar topics of the law and build your bibliography.