Oregon Tries Claiming Copyright Over Gov't Materials Again
from the and-again dept
You may recall last year that the state of Oregon tried to claim copyright in preventing others from republishing Oregon laws. Yes, that seems incredibly counterproductive, and eventually the state backed down. However, it looks like Oregon's Attorney General is now also claiming copyright on the Attorney General's Public Record and Public Meeting Manual. Yes. A government official claiming copyright over a document on the public record. Wonderful. Carl Malamud is trying to get the Attorney General to issue an opinion that such things will not be covered by copyright. But, again, can anyone provide any good reason why any government document should be covered by copyright?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
My taxes don't grow on trees.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ambrose Bierce Quote
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ambrose Bierce Quote
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Ambrose Bierce Quote
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ambrose Bierce Quote
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Ambrose Bierce Quote
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Easy. State governments are failing with their budgets, so they need a quick way to suck money out of the system that is less unpopular than increasing taxes.
Voila, copyright abuse.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Well Mike, i really can't give you a reason that any government document should be covered by copyright, but in this case, this document is specifically titled as a manual for Public records and meetings, so in order to be guidance on public issues, it should be readily available to the public without any sort of license.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Economic stimulus for Oregon! ---??
At twenty five bucks a pop (http://www.doj.state.or.us/pdf/publications_orderform.pdf), I wish we could require people from all states and countries to buy one. Perhaps we should enlist some private sector advice ... maybe from the the RIAA or MPAA.
Actually there are some permits and licenses that that require you to have in your possession a copy of the official rules and regulations covering that activity. If they copyright it and then sell it for some exorbitant price to those wishing to engage in that activity thus limiting that activity.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Copyright Owners
Personally, I would like to give me a free pass on this court case.. I'll let myself off with a warning and only if I continue to abuse the law against myself will I then sue me.
My head hurts.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
hA hA hA hA hA hA hA
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Ok, now it hurts, Please stop the jokes Oregon!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oregon Tries Claiming Copyright Over Gov't Materials Again
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091030/0412566732.shtml
and get a real understanding of that copyright is intended to protect the creative act and enable the person to make a profit not, cut out all competition...that's a monopoly and that is illegal on the federal level.
Just another power hungry individual that can't handle his own political problems with ease and grace. Like Nixon he may have the tenacity to eventually succeed, we can only hope not.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
'Copyright Law'??
If you take that to the silliest extreme, the fist record of written laws dates back to Moses so is Israel gonna be in with a chance to sue the entire world for 'copyright infringement'??
Oh FFS!!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: 'Copyright Law'??
The first set of written laws was not those attributed to Moses but predated that known as the code of Hammurabi which Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy borrow from quite liberally. Something I'm sure some similar organization such as the MPAA or RIAA is surely interested in because there just must be 4000 years of royalities due!
ttfn
John
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And as for Oregon, they're just trying to protect themselves from having their precious intellecutal property stolen by that neighbor slut, Ida-ho.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Law Pirates!
So other states won't break an axle and die of cholera.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
When government employees are co-authors on a journal article, it automatically ends up in the public domain.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]