Oregon Revised Statute error/correction: 2007 ORS 680.505

The print 2007 ORS has a printing error affecting §ORS 680.505.

The online version or the ORS has been corrected. Legislative Counsel has a PDF document with the correct text that can be inserted into the 21-volume print set.

In case you were wondering, yes, these things do happen, which is why one should usually take a quick look, or a longer one as the case may be, at the session law, at least in those instances where something doesn’t seem quite right about the code.

A code is not usually official (though sometimes it is, e.g. some USC titles – and some jurisdictions don’t codify, at least not officially), but codes are generally deemed prima facie evidence of the law (e.g. USC). See here for more on this and here if you want to learn lots more about legal research terminology. And don’t forget this terrific guide to “How to Research a Legal Problem: A Guide for Non-Lawyers.”

Oregon Revised Statutes Copyright Dispute: June 19th Hearing

June 19th, 2008, hearing in Salem, on this copyright dispute. (I last posted about this dispute here.) No details yet about time, where, or who.

Letter here (via Public Resource dot org).

SCRIBD documents on this matter are located in this Scribd group, also courtesy of Public Resource dot org.

Copyright and Orphan Works: More interesting than you thought!

What are Orphan Works and why does anyone care about them? (No, this is not a post about Charles Dickens and the working orphans who populate his novels. I’m an Our Mutual Friend fan myself – see here about these digressions. Sorry.)

1) “Orphan works” described here and here.

2) Why does anyone care? The usual: Life, art, money, legislation, and Justice, Truth and the American Way.

3) A sampling of websites on the subject, though there are, as you would expect, zillions of others:

4) Legislation: Here (H.R. 5889) and here.

5) LibraryLaw post: Why we need help with Orphan Works (First Lady copyright problems and more).

6) News: here and here and here and here.

Oregon Revised Statutes Copyright Dispute: The Copyright Comic Book (and a few more side dishes)

If you are following this dispute (and I last posted about it here), you might want to do a little reading about copyright, the history of commercial and official legal publishing, and vendor neutral citation (yes, all of these are entertwined) – unless you want to sound ill-informed (or worse) when you Comment about the issue on the various blogs and news sites that are running stories about this dispute.

1) For fun, start with Bound by Law, the copyright comic book by Keith Aoki, James Boyle, and Jennifer Jenkins.

2) A very interesting, provocative, and readable article: “Neutral Citation, Court Web Sites, and Access to Authoritative Case Law, by Peter Martin, 99 Law Library Journal 339 (Spring 2007) will give you an idea how much and how long these issues have been debated. (Quite a few of the articles in this issue are equally provocative, including an update to one of my favorites: “Why Do We Ask the Same Questions: The Triple Helix Dilemma Revisited,” by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic.)

3) See also, Ken Svengalis, Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Information Manual, for a brief history of legal publishing (and much, much more).

4) You might be curious to know how other countries manage their government copyright. Here, for example, is the United Kingdom’s Crown Copyright webpage and here is the Wikipedia Crown Copyright entry.

5) The U.S. Copyright Office.

6) There is not enough space in this post to list even the best print and online resources written about copyright, creative commons, public domain, fair use, infringement, and all the other copyright issues. You can toss these words into a search engine, but don’t forget, there are centuries of history, debate, law, money, and blood intertwined throughout, so stop in a library that has books on these subjects and spend some time reading, and reading, and thinking, and reading.

Oregon Revised Statutes Copyright Dispute: May 22nd Update

Public Resource dot org has created this web page devoted to this dispute (about which I last posted here.)

(Among other things, it says “Kibbitzers welcome.” I thought in this state (Oregon) they were called Kitzhabers?“ Oy :-)

Oregon High Court Judges: Productivity, Influence and Independence

Willamette Week’s Murmers this week (5/21/08) notes a recent study (May 2008) titled, “Which States Have the Best (and worst) High Courts," by Stephen J. Choi, Mitu Gulati, and Eric A. Posner.

The WW Murmur links to the report and the official link is from the University of Chicago Law School, Olin Working Paper #405 or Public Law and Legal Theory working paper series #217.

Lawyer Blawgs: Stats, White Papers, and Blog Directories

1) I missed this local event. Beer and Blog’s: Sifting through your traffic stats for value (but I have been to the Green Dragon (half a block away from the Belmont 15 bus stop) :-). The topic is a great idea for an Oregon lawyer blogger gathering.

2) Lawyers blogging and marketing … LawyerCasting™ including articles like these:

a) How to Avoid Weird Characters in Email Subject Lines,
b) Lawyer White Papers: The Top 10 Best Practices,
c) and this one, Lawyer Blog Directories

Thanks to Tom Mighell for his Inter Alia Blawg of the Day service (priceless!), where I found this marketing link and many others.

Rules of the Airwaves: Broadcasting your radio station phone call

Do you ever wonder If There’s a Law about the “Broadcast of Telephone Conversations?" There is!

Excerpt from full report, The Public and Broadcasting: How to Get the Most Service from your Local Station

“Broadcast of Telephone Conversations. Before broadcasting a telephone conversation live or recording a telephone conversation for later broadcast, a station must inform any party to the call of its intention to broadcast the conversation. However, that notification is not necessary when the other party knows that the conversation will be broadcast or such knowledge can be reasonably presumed, such as when the party is associated with the station (for example, as an employee or part-time reporter) or originates the call during a program during which the station customarily broadcasts the calls. For additional information on the rule concerning the broadcast of telephone conversations, see http://www.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/telphon.html....”


Notice of Report via beSpacific.

What's a Homestead Exemption?

Wondering about what homestead exemptions are? (See Steve Duin’s column in May 15th, 2008 Oregonian, Sleeping dogs and the Berkman trial.)

Note: Exemptions generally, in the context of debtor-creditor law (bankruptcy, debt collection, etc.) can get very tricky, so if you are more than curious, i.e. you are looking your creditors in the eye or over your shoulder, please consult a legal professional for advice.

1) Wikipedia, Homestead Exemption

2) For Oregon, visit the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) and use the index to find the section you need.

3) If you need to survey all 50 states, start here. Or, check your own state's statutes from, e.g., Findlaw's Official State Codes link.

4) Or, start with the Oregon State Bar overview. Excerpt:

“If two or more members of a household are judgment debtors, each person is entitled to claim these exemptions in the same or different property. A judgment debtor's government benefits are normally totally exempt from execution. There is also an Oregon exemption (sometimes call the "Homestead Exemption") available for the equity a person has in their residence if the residence is located within the state of Oregon.
The exemption amounts for different types of residences (for example, mobile homes on a rented pad, a mobile home on owned real property, or a traditional residence built on a foundation) vary depending on the type of residence you have, and are complex. You may want to consult with an attorney to determine what exemption value (if any) you have in your home or other property when faced with a judgment or the need to file bankruptcy.

In most cases, the judgment amount must exceed $3,000 before a judgment creditor can force the sale of a judgment debtor's residence (the judgment remains a lien on the property, however)….” (full article here)

“Dude, what’s a CMS and how much does a website cost?”

These are not “stupid” questions. Yes, I’m sure there are “stupid” questions, but they usually come out of my mouth (why don’t people in the sun-belt and the middle-east corner the market on solar energy technology?), not the mouths of people who visit my library.

Answers to questions can be found almost anywhere, from t-shirts to novels one reads on airplanes. One place I find a lot of practical advice, simply presented, is at iLibrarian. They are masters of the Top Ten, Top Thirteen, 18 Different Ways to Do x lists. (Law librarians love finding other people who have already done half the research :-)

These (CMS and website cost) are two questions that could be answered plenty of other places, but at iLibrarian I often read the answer right before someone emails my library with the question.

So, here’s their post on “13 Free Content Management Systems Reviewed”

And here is, “Dude – I need a website how much is that”

Legal Notice by Publication

Pro se litigants, and new lawyers, will ask us questions about how to “publish a legal notice.” Does it have to be in the newspaper? Which newspaper? What does the notice have to say?

Here are a few pointers, but as always, you’ll need to do some additional legal research and drafting yourself:

1) Oregon Revised Statutes (use index, including but not limited to Chapter 193)

2) Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure (use the index for references, including ORCP(F)(b))

3) Oregon Public Notice website, from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and their Legal Notice Publication Laws webpage (very useful, but read the disclaimer – in fact, you should always read disclaimers)

3) “OSB Civil Pleading and Practice” (print or online at Oregon law libraries – see sidebar for links)

4) As for drafting the notice itself, I recommend you look at published notices to see how they are worded, but don’t assume they are right for your specific circumstances. Consult an attorney – please.


Disclaimer: It is against state law for library staff members to engage in any conduct that might constitute the unauthorized practice of law (ORS 9.160, 9.166 and 9.21). They may not interpret statutes, cases or regulations, perform legal research, recommend or assist in the preparation of forms, or advise patrons regarding their legal rights. They may, however, assist patrons in locating materials or links that would aid in individual research.

Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) Copyright Dispute: May 16th Update

(I last posted about this dispute here.)

Ars Technica: Fight shaping up over Oregon state law copyright claim (May 13th) (I’m not too sure about Nate Anderson’s “Out West” and the “tumbleweed” references, but we need all the lightness we can get when tempers get hot. I’m a Shane gal myself :-)

The law librarian wonk (me) also has this to say:

The legal and bibliographic (and etiquette) issues raised in this copyright dispute are many. One is about protecting access to documents that are official, authentic, and, when needed, current. Here is some information on that challenge ….

“The First Anniversary of AALL’s National Summit on Authentication of Digital Legal Information

AALL is a recognized leader on the authentication of online legal information. We have just revised the information on AALLNET to incorporate the significant progress made since the publication of our spring 2007 State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources and National Summit on Authentication of Digital Legal Information.

During the past year, we have been working with many organizations and individuals to educate them about this issue and find allies in developing digital authentication solutions. We are very pleased with the increased interest in digital authentication as a result of our leadership.

Most noteworthy is the recent decision by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws to create a Study Committee on "Online Authentication of Legal Materials." Please take a few minutes to check out our progress for yourself.”

Source: posted here, at the AALL website.