Charles R. Macedo and David Goldberg Co-Author Oxford University Press Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice article on the Implications of the U.S. Supreme Court Holding that U.S. State Codes and Annotations are Not Eligible for Copyright Protection
Oxford University Press
In
this Oxford University Press article by Charley Macedo and David Goldberg, which appeared in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice,
the authors explore a U.S. Supreme Court decision from April 27, 2020 that extended the government edicts doctrine, which holds that works authored by judges in the course of their official duties are in the public domain, to similar works created by the legislatures of states, territories and the District of Columbia.
The decision clarifies that this doctrine applies even to annotated versions of legal codes, to prevent a situation where there is ‘first class’ versus ‘economy class’ access to the law. That said, this decision will not stop states and territories from charging for access to such materials. However, those states and territories will no longer be able to prevent third parties from providing free access to such materials by invoking copyright restrictions.
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