ATLANTA – State Representative Johnnie Caldwell (R-Thomaston), Chairman of the Code Revision Commission, issued the following statement regarding the lawsuit filed on behalf of the State of Georgia on July 21, 2015:
“The Georgia Code Revision Commission, on behalf of the State of Georgia as the owner of a copyright in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“O.C.G.A.”), filed a lawsuit on July 21, 2015, in federal court against Public.Resource.Org for infringement of the State’s copyright. That copyright has been in effect since the original publication of the O.C.G.A. in 1982.
“The Georgia Code Revision Commission was created by the General Assembly in 1977 for the purpose of publishing an official Code of Georgia. As part of its publication authority, the Commission is authorized to defend the copyright interest in the O.C.G.A.
“Significantly, the O.C.G.A. contains two separate and distinct types of content: (1) the law itself, as enacted by the Georgia General Assembly; and (2) ancillary material, such as cross references, case annotations, editor’s notes, law reviews, etc. Such ancillary material is expressly not law.
“Under federal copyright law, statutory law is in the public domain, and the State claims no copyright in the law itself. Indeed, the statutes of Georgia have long been available to the public at no charge via the Georgia General Assembly’s website. The value-added portions, or ancillary materials, however, are considered to be original works of authorship produced by the publisher as a “work for hire” for the State. Federal copyright law protects such works for hire. It is this type of “value-added” ancillary material to which the State owns the copyright.
“The state’s publisher, LexisNexis, receives no monetary payment from the State for producing the editorial content and in printing and distributing the O.C.G.A. Pursuant to the contract, the publisher recoups its investment through the exclusive right to sell the O.C.G.A., although the State has the authority to limit the prices that may be charged by the publisher for the printed version. In addition, the State receives royalties from the publisher for the online licenses and CD-ROM versions of the O.C.G.A. This particular contractual arrangement, in place for over 30 years, has achieved the original goal of the General Assembly to produce an official, reliable, updated, and affordable annotated Code, without expending taxpayer funds.
“Under this arrangement, if an individual or entity copies and distributes the copyrighted portion of the O.C.G.A. without permission and not as a “fair use” under federal copyright law, the publisher’s exclusive rights are no longer “exclusive” as provided in the contract. To preserve these rights, the Commission has the authority by law to assert and defend its copyright interest in the ancillary portions of the O.C.G.A. Public.Resource.Org notified the State in 2013 of its intention to copy and distribute the O.C.G.A., which it subsequently did. Consequently, the Commission issued several cease and desist letters to such entity asserting its copyright interests. Because Public.Resource.Org refused to comply with such cease and desist letters, the Commission filed the aforementioned lawsuit.
“It should be noted that failure of the Commission to assert and defend the State’s copyright interest in the non-statutory portion of the O.C.G.A. would likely result in either requiring the State to publish an official Code at its own expense through an Appropriation by the General Assembly or the abandonment of an official annotated Code by the State altogether.”
Representative Johnnie Caldwell Jr. represents the citizens of District 131, which includes portions of Lamar, Pike, and Upson counties. He was first elected into the House of Representatives in 2012 and is currently serving as the Vice Chairman on the Insurance Committee. He also serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and the Banks & Banking, Judiciary, and Motor Vehicles committees.
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