Oregon Statutes Copyright Debate

A story that had been percolating in the blogosphere has hit the mainstream media. The Washington Times covers a government information and copyright case in its article, Oregon Claims State Law Copyrighted (19 April 2008). A 16 April post on the ars technica blog says,

The State of Oregon takes exception to Web sites that republish the state's Revised Statutes in full, claiming that the statutes contain copyrighted information in the republication causes the state to lose money it needs to continue putting out the official version of the statutes. Oregon's Legislative Counsel, Dexter Johnson, has therefore requested that legal information site Justia remove the information or (preferably) take out a paid license from the state.

The Justia website updates the story with their 19 April post, Cease, Desist & Resist - Oregon's Copyright Claim on the Oregon Revised Statutes. Justia says,

Thursday, we (Carl Malamud, Nolo's Stephen Elias and I) had a pleasant and constructive conversation with Dexter Johnson and his team. The Oregon folks are going to think through some different options. If Oregon comes up with a solution that promotes free and open access to the laws, then we will likely avoid litigation. If not, then we will likely have to ask the courts to determine whether state governments can prohibit others from downloading, reproducing or distributing the laws. I hope that given Oregon's public interest focus, the State will adopt an approach that promotes open access to laws instead of one that maximizes licensing fees. We should know more next week.

The Justia post links to further commentary from legal blogs.