Openlaw Experiment (fwd)

This came over a copyright list I'm on. I thought it might be of
interest. (note the open source reference)

Lynn

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 21:41:49 -0400
From: Diane Cabell <cabell(at)mama-tech(dot)com>
Reply-To: cni-copyright(at)cni(dot)org
To: Multiple recipients of list <cni-copyright(at)cni(dot)org>
Subject: Openlaw Experiment

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School has
begun a novel research project called Openlaw.

Openlaw is an innovative litigation strategy that uses the Internet
as a public commons for developing legal arguments. Eldred v. Reno,
contesting the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, is the first
case to be litigated using an Openlaw approach. Attorneys and law
students are cordially invited to register on the Openlaw site and to
participate in the brief-writing process.

Openlaw is an experiment in crafting legal argument in an open forum.
With your assistance, we will develop arguments, draft pleadings, and
edit briefs online. You are invited to join the process by adding
thoughts to the "brainstorm" outline, drafting and commenting on
drafts in progress, and suggesting reference sources. Building on
the model of open source software, we believe that an open development
process best harnesses the distributed resources of the Internet
community. What we lose in secrecy, we expect to regain in depth of
sources and breadth of argument.

We welcome all participants in our drafting process. To join the
team, follow the register link on the sidebar and enter your email
address and a chosen username and password (other information is
optional). Registration will give you access to all portions of the
openlaw site.

http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/

We'll start the process by brainstorming ideas for our legal arguments.
Use threads on the discussion boards to post your ideas and respond to
others. We will then pull ideas from the outline into drafts posted
for collaborative critique and editing. In addition, please visit the
Copyright's Commons website at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/commons/
Please send any comments you have on the sites to Ashley Morgan
<amorgan(at)law(dot)harvard(dot)edu>

Ashley Morgan and Jenny Love

via
Diane Cabell
http://www.mama-tech.com/
Fausett, Gaeta & Lund
Boston