The Federal Appendix is a case law reporter published by West Publishing.

West Publishing, with a near monopoly on the Government's court data bases, is a costly example, as lawyers quickly discover.

In almost every Federal and state jurisdiction, West Publishing's books have evolved into the official or standard volume.

Several copyright and electronic publishing experts, though, said they expected new competition to emerge that would erode West Publishing's profit margins.

The major legal citation systems required cites to the officially published page numbers, in which publishers such as West Publishing claimed a copyright interest.

West Publishing is a closely held company - it has only 200 shareholders - based in Eagan, Minn.

The system was developed by West Publishing to organize the entire body of American law.

West Publishing, a closely held company with just 200 shareholders, employs 7,000.

Spokesmen for West Publishing - which has annual revenue of about $830 million - could not be reached for comment last night.

The fact that West Publishing does a good job conceals the real issue, which is who controls access to public law.