Oregon Tries Claiming Copyright Over Gov't Materials Again

from the and-again dept

Fri, Oct 30th 2009 5:22pm — Mike Masnick

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

Filed Under: copyright, laws, oregon

17 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 30 Oct 2009 @ 5:27pm

My taxes are copyrighted. If the government wants a copy then they have to pay for the privilege. And the licensing fees are anything but cheap!

My taxes don't grow on trees.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 30 Oct 2009 @ 5:36pm

Ambrose Bierce Quote
Copyright, n: The notion that you can protect from the future what you stole from the past.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 30 Oct 2009 @ 5:37pm

Re: Ambrose Bierce Quote
See, this is why we need a comment rating/favoriting system.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
RateMyComment, 30 Oct 2009 @ 6:10pm

Re: Re: Ambrose Bierce Quote
I would rate it rather high
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Oct 2009 @ 6:22pm

"But, again, can anyone provide any good reason why any government document should be covered by copyright?"

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 thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Oct 2009 @ 6:31pm

Oregon's Attorney General is now also claiming copyright on the Attorney General's Public Record and Public Meeting Manual

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 thread ]
The baker, 30 Oct 2009 @ 6:56pm

Economic stimulus for Oregon! ---??
If they copyright it, then enact a law that require people to own and use it, our state's budget woes will only decrease.
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 thread ]
Phillip Vector (profile), 30 Oct 2009 @ 9:17pm

Copyright Owners
Well.. If it's a public record.. and they are owned by the public.. Then if they claim copyright, then aren't we effectively suing ourselves?

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 thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Oct 2009 @ 11:54pm

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
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 thread ]
Mike Ashton (profile), 31 Oct 2009 @ 1:38am

Oregon Tries Claiming Copyright Over Gov't Materials Again
May be the Oregon State Attorney General Should read the Article About "Firebowls,copyright, and Crowdfunding.
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 thread ]
Pete Braven, 31 Oct 2009 @ 10:09am

'Copyright Law'??
Ah,.. so I suppose the end result of this mindless farce will be that all laws become 'copyright' protected which will mean they never get out of some library dungeon and on-body will have a clue what copyright law actually means anyway,..
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 thread ]
Marcus Carab (profile), 31 Oct 2009 @ 10:28am

Re: Ambrose Bierce Quote
I don't know if that came off the top of your head, if you penned it after deep consideration, or if you just found it somewhere, but regardless - bravo!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Marcus Carab (profile), 31 Oct 2009 @ 10:35am

Re: Re: Ambrose Bierce Quote
Oh, ha, I guess I should have read the title of your comment.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
TtfnJohn (profile), 31 Oct 2009 @ 7:06pm

Re: 'Copyright Law'??
Just a little note.

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 thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Nov 2009 @ 4:08pm

There are several codes that predate Hammurabi -- he just got the best PR. The code of Ur-Nammu, for example, is about 300 years older....

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 thread ]
Blatant Coward (profile), 2 Nov 2009 @ 3:27pm

Law Pirates!
"Can anyone provide any good reason why any government document should be covered by copyright?"

So other states won't break an axle and die of cholera.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DRG, 2 Nov 2009 @ 7:58pm

Interesting.

When government employees are co-authors on a journal article, it automatically ends up in the public domain.
[ link to this | view in thread ]