for everyone

First it happened in Oregon, where the state claimed it violated copyright for websites like Justia to republish their law. According to TechDirt, “the state admits that the text of the laws are not covered by copyright, but that everything else about the way the law is presented is covered by copyright (such as the numbering, the notes and annotations).”

Now we have a case in California where the state made a similar claim regarding the presentation of their legal code. Local resident and activist Carl Malamud is scanning and posting online copies of federal, state and county codes, which is copyright infringement according to the state. Malamud’s next step is to take his case to court with the hopes of setting a precedent that would require state, federal, and county law to be free from copyright restrictions.

In reviewing Malamud’s website http://public.resource.org, I found that he’s actually digitizing and uploading the penal code as published by Lexis Nexis. While I think that Lexis Nexis has a strong case to argue that Malamud is infringing their copyright, I do hope that the courts will realize that it’s a complete disservice to the public that state and federal law is not freely viewable, searchable, downloadable, printable, and mashable online.