Over the last few days, I've have had several questions as to the basic nature of PACER documents and whether they can be freely exchanged. So, in follow-up tp Rick's post, I would further explain.
Court rulings and documents, unless sealed, are public records, meaning that they are in the public domain. Anyone can go to the courthouse and pay for copies of most anything that isn't sealed, and PACER hasn't changed that except to offer an additional means of access, though one must be an authorized user. As a result, I contacted Rick to advise him of this, and, to his credit, he had already contacted the PACER folks. Out of an abundance of caution, I also called some of the officials at my local federal courthouse, all of whom were in accord.
For those of you who may still be wondering about some of the quoted language in Rick's prior post of March 16 on this subject, which seemed to be prohibitive in this regard, the first restriction was on "collection" of PACER data. This is different than the subsequent dissemination of a PACER document that had already been properly obtained through the system, and I believe is pretty much the distinction that Pete was describing in his post on this subject. In order to legally "collect" the data through PACER, you must, as above, be an authorized user and pay the required charges.
The other quoted passage in Rick's post, which dealt with "publication", refers to such within, or by, the court system itself, as in publishing a court ruling or document in the official case reporters --- it does not refer to a member of the public giving the document to someone else, or posting it on the web. The simple explanation is that not all court rulings and other documents are published, because many are so routine that such is felt unnecessary --- in that event, the ruling or other document is deemed by the court to be one that is "not for publication" in the case reporters.
So, the bottom line is that, as long as you are an authorized user of the PACER system and pay the charges for the documents, you are then free to distribute them to others, either manually or electronically. The same is true if you are simply in possession of a PACER document, unless you accessed the system without authorization and/or did not pay the charges. I hope the above is helpful to those who contacted me with questions, as I will not be able to respond on an individual basis.
Best wishes to all.
