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Supreme Court to Review Decision Prohibiting Copyright for Public Law
The Supreme Court has decided to review Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, a case in which a federal appeals court ruled that Georgia cannot copyright any part of the state's code of laws. Georgia had previously charged citizens as much as $400 to access official "annotations" to the code, which establish the meaning of the state's laws. But the appeals court concluded that "the People are the owners of these works, meaning that the works are intrinsically public domain material and, therefore, uncopyrightable." The case will likely be argued before the Supreme Court in the fall. EPIC has long advocated for public access to court documents and other sources of law. In 2015, EPIC called on federal agencies to make statutes, regulations, adjudications, and relevant court documents freely available on agency websites.
June 24, 2019| Share:
