No, it’s not copyright infringement when attorney discipline authorities copy your blog …

… while investigating charges that some blog posts violated professional conduct rules. So held the unsurprising decision in Denison v. Larkin (N.D. Ill. Aug. 13, 2014) (just noted on a Westlaw case summary service, which is how I learned of it):

This case arises out of an Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (“IARDC”) disciplinary proceeding [which is still ongoing -EV]. Plaintiff [Joanne M. Denison], a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois, is suing the IARDC and Nextpoint for using portions of her copyrighted Blog as evidence against her in an attorney disciplinary proceeding. The IARDC has alleged that Plaintiff made false statements about judges and other lawyers on her Blog, which addresses the guardianship proceeding of Mary Sykes….

Mary Sykes was a 90-year-old woman who was put into guardianship in December of 2009. Plaintiff investigated Ms. Sykes’ case and allegedly found “a large number of irregularities” in the case. Plaintiff believes that Ms. Sykes was a victim of courtroom corruption.

In late 2011, Plaintiff created the Blog to, in her words, “provide a forum for the friends and relatives of Mary Sykes, a probate victim, to speak out against corruption in the courtroom.” … Plaintiff posted her own writings as well as the writings of others on the Blog. The writings included allegations of corruption in the Probate Court of Cook County, that Sykes was the victim of elder abuse, and that the guardians ad litem and the court had physically or mentally harmed Sykes….
 
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No, it’s not copyright infringement when attorney discipline authorities copy your blog …