When Lawyers Sue Legal Publishers: Contracts and/or Ethics?

This is an interesting story:

Law Professors Seek Injunction over ‘Sham’ Treatise Supplement, by Shannon P. Duffy, The Legal Intelligencer, April 16, 2009.

Excerpt: “An ugly dispute has erupted between West Publishing and two law professors who claim they were falsely identified as the authors of an annual supplement to a treatise on Pennsylvania criminal law even though they had nothing to do with writing it.

In a federal lawsuit, professors David Rudovsky of the University of Pennsylvania and Leonard Sosnov of Widener Law School claim that the December 2008 supplement, or “pocket part,” to their book, “Pennsylvania Criminal Procedure — Law, Commentary and Forms,” was so poorly researched that it will harm their reputations if allowed to remain on library shelves…. “ (link to full story)

The story is also a serious reminder to read your publishing contracts. I last posted about this here, with links to Google class action settlement stories. And, the Oregon State Bar, in the April 2009 Bulletin, has an important notice to OSB members who may be affected by that Google class action settlement.