It’s a cornerstone of democracy.

Meredith Rose, “Cases Shed Light on Copyright Protection of Standards Developers,” US Glass, 01-26-2016, https://www.usglassmag.com/cases-shed-light-on-copyright-protection-of-standards-developers/

Malamud’s organization, which first published California’s building code online in 2008, claims it is unfair to make businesses and the public purchase complete access to laws they’re forced to obey. “Legislatures and administrative agencies have frequently enacted into law, and enforced, construction, fire, and other public safety codes,” Public.Resource.org wrote in its answer to the lawsuit. “Public safety codes govern essential aspects of everyday life. They often carry civil or criminal penalties. They are laws.”

Activist organization Public Knowledge, as well as Knowledge Ecology International and the American Library Association, filed an amicus curiae brief in the case this month, siding with Public.Resource.org.

“Free and unfettered access to the law has long been a cornerstone of American democracy. Plaintiffs’ claims are a blatant attempt to use copyright law as a bulldozer against the public domain,” Meredith Rose, staff attorney at Public Knowledge, said in a statement. “Their claim that incorporated statutory language is eligible for copyright protection because it is ‘creative’ (and can thus be ‘paraphrased’) ignores the fact that the words of the law are definitive; rephrasing the law is no substitute.

“More importantly, the public’s access to the exact text of the law is a fundamental right drawn from the Constitution. The plaintiffs purport to satisfy this critical public need by offering ‘reading room’ websites that make the law available. However, these websites are difficult to use and inaccessible to the visually disabled, therefore hindering true public access to the law.”