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WV Assessor Sues to Keep Tax Maps Off the Internet

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the define-overly-litigious dept.

An anonymous reader writes "After trying to charge $167,488 for their collection of county tax maps (in TIF format), West Virginia was forced by a judge to hand them over for a $20 'reproduction costs' fee. Now a county tax assessor has filed a lawsuit trying to block the tax maps from being put online, claiming copyright infringement and financial damages since fewer people are coming to her to buy paper copies at $8 per page."

2 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Defending the State by tjstork · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Because anyone else can get the same data for the same price; making money by adding value is no sin; it's a good thing.

    So, since that company basically sued the state of West Virginia to get all of its data for $20, can I turn sue the company and get all of its data for, say, $20? That's where I'm coming from. If the information was so important, and so valuable, that you can make a billion dollar business with it, then, why is it so wrong for the state from which that information came from get a piece of the pie?

    --
    This is my sig.
  2. Dating your sister/cousin in WV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    And making babies with your cousin or sister in WV.