27078Smith v. Van Gorkom — Syllabusthe Delaware Supreme Court

Court Documents
Opinion of the Court
Dissenting Opinions
McNeilly
Christie
 Wikipedia article

Supreme Court of Delaware

488 A.2d 858

ALDEN SMITH and JOHN W. GOSSELIN, Plaintiffs Below, Appellants,  v.  JEROME W. VAN GORKOM, BRUCE S. CHELBERG, WILLIAM B. JOHNSON, JOSEPH B. LANTERMAN, GRAHAM J. MORGAN, THOMAS P. O'BOYLE, W. ALLEN WALLIS, SIDNEY H. BONSER, WILLIAM D. BROWDER, TRANS UNION CORPORATION, a Delaware corporation, MARMON GROUP, INC., a Delaware corporation, GL CORPORATION, a Delaware corporation, and NEW T. CO., a Delaware corporation, Defendants Below, Appellees.

 Argued: June 11, 1984 --- Decided: Decided January 29, 1985 --- Opinion on Denial of Reargument: March 14, 1985.

William Prickett (argued) and James P. Dalle Pazze, of Prickett, Jones, Elliott, Kristol & Schnee, Wilmington, and Ivan Irwin, Jr. and Brett A. Ringle, of Shank, Irwin, Conant & Williamson, Dallas, Tex., of counsel, for plaintiffs below, appellants.

Robert K. Payson (argued) and Peter M. Sieglaff of Potter, Anderson & Corroon, Wilmington, for individual defendants below, appellees.

Lewis S. Black, Jr., A. Gilchrist Sparks, III (argued) and Richard D. Allen, of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, Wilmington, for Trans Union Corp., Marmon Group, Inc., GL Corp. and New T. Co., defendants below, appellees.

Before HERRMANN, C.J., and McNEILLY, HORSEY, MOORE and CHRISTIE, JJ., constituting the Court en banc.

This work is in the public domain in the U.S. because it is an edict of a government, local or foreign. See § 313.6(C)(2) of the Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices. Such documents include "legislative enactments, judicial decisions, administrative rulings, public ordinances, or similar types of official legal materials" as well as "any translation prepared by a government employee acting within the course of his or her official duties."

These do not include works of the Organization of American States, United Nations, or any of the UN specialized agencies. See Compendium III § 313.6(C)(2) and 17 U.S.C. 104(b)(5).

A non-American governmental edict may still be copyrighted outside the U.S. Similar to {{PD-in-USGov}}, the above U.S. Copyright Office Practice does not prevent U.S. states or localities from holding copyright abroad, depending on foreign copyright laws and regulations.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse