Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Do I need permission to use?

Government publications, as a rule, are in the public domain and, as such, may be used without explicit permission.

This is not legal advice.

Re: Do I need permission to use?

Courts are government entities and the people who write for them (judges and law clerks) are government employees. Copyright does not attach to judicial opinions; however, if a court employee (like a judge) writes privately to publish, say, a book or an article (as did Chief Justice Rehnquist and former Justice O'Connor still does), those works do have copyright attached.

Law journals are NOT public domain; they have copyright written all over them. These contain scholarly works by professors, lawyers, and some law students. Do NOT copy from them without permission.

Court reporters ARE public domain. These are the (often brown) volumes that contain the judicial opinions about the cases. However, the headnotes and key notes that you find in the reporters are NOT public domain.

If you don't know what's a journal and what's a reporter (and they can be confusing), ask the law librarian (who is your Very Good Friend in the realm of legal research).

Harder than you thought, huh?

Good luck.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

Re: Do I need permission to use?

Just be accurate and cite the case and you'll be fine; it is public domain.