No One Can Own the Law: Supreme Court Rules that the Official Code of Georgia Annotated is Not Copyrightable - Judges and Legislators Performing in their Official Functions Cannot Be "Authors" For Purposes of the Copyright Act.
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. , 20 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3636 (U.S. Apr. 27, 2020) Topic: Copyrightability of Statutory Code The Copyright Act grants monopoly protection for “original works of authorship.” 17 U.S.C. § 102(a). Under the government edicts doctrine, officials empowered to speak with the force of law cannot be the authors of the works they create in the course of their official duties. The State of Georgia has one official code—the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA). That Code includes the text of every Georgia statute currently in force, as well as a set of non-binding annotations that appear beneath each statutory provision. The annotations typically include summaries of judicial opinions construing each provision, summaries of pertinent opinions of the state attorney general, and a list of related law review articles and other reference materials. The OCGA is assembled by the Code Revision Commission, a state entity composed mostly of legislators...