I think you may have misunderstood the criticism. Yes, of course Lexis and Westlaw provide digital copies of case reporters. But they also do a ton of other stuff. One of their extremely expensive services allows you to watch state and federal court dockets and get a notification about new entries.
Published cases themselves are in relatively good shape -- most of what you can find in the West National Reporter system over the last 50 years is available for free on Google Scholar.
In response to your, "These services do not charge you for access to the case law, which are in the public domain." Sure they do. It costs money to buy the West Federal Supplement or Tennessee Reports in print. It also costs money to access those reporters online, via Westlaw or Lexis-Nexis. Many of these old cases (despite being uncopyrighted) are only available by visiting a law library or a paid online service. You can't just download them for free.
Published cases themselves are in relatively good shape -- most of what you can find in the West National Reporter system over the last 50 years is available for free on Google Scholar.
In response to your, "These services do not charge you for access to the case law, which are in the public domain." Sure they do. It costs money to buy the West Federal Supplement or Tennessee Reports in print. It also costs money to access those reporters online, via Westlaw or Lexis-Nexis. Many of these old cases (despite being uncopyrighted) are only available by visiting a law library or a paid online service. You can't just download them for free.