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GOVERNMENT EDICTS DOCTRINE

State of Georgia, et al. v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc.

Issues

Does the government edicts doctrine render uncopyrightable works of government officials that do not carry the force of law?

The Supreme Court will determine whether the government edicts doctrine renders uncopyrightable the annotations in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“OCGA.”) The government edicts doctrine prevents individuals from copyrighting government edicts—such as judicial decisions and statutes. The State of Georgia and the Georgia Code Revision Committee (“Georgia”) argue that the annotations—which were primarily written by private actors and do not carry the force of law—are beyond the scope of the government edicts doctrine. PublicResource.Org disagrees, arguing that because (1) the annotations are published under a state authority, and (2) Georgia’s Supreme Court treats the OCGA annotations as authentic sources of legal meaning, the annotations carry the force of law and are thus uncopyrightable under the government edicts doctrine. The Court’s decision will have implications for organizations’ abilities to provide low-cost or free public access to state laws and non-legal codes and standards (e.g. construction codes and standards).

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

Whether the government edicts doctrine extends to—and thus renders uncopyrightable—works that lack the force of law, such as the annotations in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.

The Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“OCGA”) is Georgia’s official compilation of all its laws and has been published yearly since 1982. State of Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org at 5. Both private and public entities wrote the OCGA. Id. at 2–3. The OCGA contains both statutory text and annotations of the text, which help to explain the law. Id. at 3.

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