Opinion
Misc. 2:09-239
07-12-2024
IN RE PACER FEE EXEPMTIONS ALEXANDER VIETS, (PACER Account xxxx829), Movant.
ORDER
MARK R. HORNAK, CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
This matter is before the Court upon the application by Alexander Viets (“Viets”) for exemption from the fees imposed by the Electronic Public Access fee schedule adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States Courts (ECF No. 148).
This Court finds that Viets is an individual researcher associated with an educational institution and, therefore, falls within the class of users listed in the fee schedule as being eligible for a fee exemption. Additionally, Viets has demonstrated that an exemption is necessary in order to avoid unreasonable burdens and to promote public access to information.
Accordingly, Viets shall be exempt from the payment of fees for access via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (the “PACER System”) to the electronic case files maintained by this Court, to the extent such use is incurred in the course of the defined scholarly research project described in the Application for Exemption from the Judicial Conference's Electronic Public Access Fees in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, including the attachment (collectively the “Application”) (ECF No. 148). The Court finds that the research project described in the Application is intended solely for scholarly research and is limited in scope in that the amount of exempt access requested is narrowly tailored to meet the project's needs and will involve only those cases identified in the attachment to Viets' Application (ECF No. 148-1). Viets shall not be exempt from the payment of fees incurred in connection with other uses of the PACER System in this Court. Additionally, the following limitations apply:
1) This fee exemption applies only to Viets and is valid only for the scholarly research project described in the Application;
2) This fee exemption applies only to the electronic case files of this Court that are available through the PACER System;
3) By accepting this exemption, Viets agrees not to sell for profit any data obtained as a result of receiving this exemption or to use the data for any commercial purpose;
4) Viets is prohibited from transferring any data obtained as a result of receiving this exemption, including redistribution via Internet based databases. This prohibition does not prevent Viets from relying upon the data obtained as a result of receiving this exemption in or in connection with the scholarly research project described in the Application;
5) This exemption is valid until September 30, 2024.
This exemption may be revoked at the discretion of the Court at any time. The Clerk of Court of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, or her designee, may periodically review the usage of Viets' exempt PACER System account during the term of this exemption.