The West Copyright Conundrum

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to work on a product liability lawsuit against a major tire manufacturer. The case, involving an alleged defective tire which exploded causing the plaintiff to sustain severe brain damage, took nearly ten years to go to trial because the defendant pursued every remotely possible appealable issue prior to trial and exhausted every ostensible appeal after losing at trial, until the United States Supreme Court finally refused to hear the matter. My point in describing this case is that the tire manufacturer, who does undoubtedly make superior tires, refused to admit that it could make even one bad tire. And they paid 30 lawyers to defend their position. They would rather have spent millions of dollars defending their "honor" than helping an institutionalized man and his family. In the end, the plaintiff received the $1.2 million dollar jury award and an additional ʹ$300,000 accrued interest during the appeals (prior to paying attorneyʹs fees).