Inadmissible

The public now can go online to see most new civil suits filed with the Harris County District Clerk’s Office on the same day they are filed and print an unverified copy of them free that day (after that, standard fees apply). The new online service, available on the Web site for the clerk’s office, launched in late July after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that gives a reporter for Courthouse News Service same-day access to new civil suits filed in the Harris County district courts. “It’s there for the world to see on the same day. Anybody can look at that petition, and on the same day you can print a copy of the petition,” says Harris County District Clerk Loren Jackson . Jackson says his office has been working for months to set up same-day online access to new civil filings, but U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon ‘s July 20 order in Courthouse News Service v. Loren Jackson, et al. pushed the launch date to July 24. “Because of this preliminary injunction, we had to act quickly,” says Jackson, who took office in 2008. Courthouse News, a legal newswire headquartered in Pasadena, Calif., sued Jackson and chief deputy clerk Wes McCoy on June 12, alleging they are violating the U.S. Constitution by making it difficult for its Houston reporter to gain immediate access to civil court filings. In a July 20 order, Harmon disagreed with the defendants’ argument that a “slight delay” in allowing the reporter access to the pleadings is reasonable and that providing the reporter with same-day access interferes with its objective of “getting online and not in line.” In the Opinion and Order of Preliminary Injunction, Harmon found that the 24-to 72-hour delay in access is unconstitutional. [See "Same-Day Filings," Texas Lawyer, July 27, 2009, page 3.] John K. Edwards , a partner in Jackson Walker in Houston who represents Courthouse News in the suit, says access for the Courthouse News reporter has improved since Harmon’s order. “We are engaged in discussions to resolve the lawsuit,” Edwards says. On Aug. 10, Jackson announced a new criminal case online search feature: The public can view documents for free and purchase uncertified copies for 10 cents per page.

The Play’s the Thing

In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court held invalid Guglielmo Marconi’s broad patent for improvements in wireless telegraphy. Austin attorney Charles Moster ‘s musical radio play about the case, titled ” Tesla v. The United States ,” is scheduled to premier Aug. 31 online at www.noirdame.com. “It’s the only musical I know of that is based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision,” says Moster, a senior partner in MosterWynne . An e-mail from Moster provides the following background on the case that he set to music: The play tells the story of Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla and Italian inventor Marconi. Tesla invented radio, and Marconi incorporated one of Tesla’s inventions, the Tesla Oscillator, to transmit the first radio signal across the Atlantic Ocean. Tesla applied for a patent for the oscillator in 1897, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted him a patent in 1903. In 1900, the patent office declined to grant Marconi a patent for his radio device because it was based on Tesla’s oscillator. But the patent office reversed its decision in 1904 and granted the patent to Marconi, who won the Nobel Prize in 1911 for inventing the radio. The Supreme Court ruling that reversed the patent office’s decision on Marconi’s patent came after Tesla died. Moster wrote the book, music and lyrics for the play. Adam Donmoyer arranged the music, directed the play and wrote the title song. “Tesla” isn’t Moster’s first foray into playwriting. Among other works, his radio musical “Again” aired in June 2007 on KUNM, a public radio station affiliated with the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and Moster wrote and directed the musical “Rainbows,” an off-off-Broadway production that opened in 1979 in New York. [See "Music, Lyrics and Law," Texas Lawyer, May 28, 2007, page 9.]

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