Charley Macedo and David Goldberg Co-Author Oxford University Press Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice Article on U.S. Supreme Court Holds That U.S. State Codes and Annotations Thereto are not Eligible for Copyright Protection
Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, Volume 15, Issue 12, December 2020, Pages 946–948, (Oxford University Press)
Author(s): Charles R. Macedo, David P. Goldberg
In this Oxford University Press Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice article by Charley Macedo and David Goldberg, the authors discuss when the U.S. Supreme Court 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 U.S. 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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Citation: Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, Volume 15, Issue 12, December 2020, Pages 946–948, https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpaa162 (Oxford University Press)