Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc. - United States Supreme Court
590 U.S. ___ (2020)
Generally, the law can't be copyrighted because everyone is presumed to know the law, and therefore, must have access to it. In Georgia versus public dot resource dot org, the supreme court considered the scope of this exception.
The official code of Georgia annotated contained the text of every Georgia statute and various supplementary materials.
A set of annotations followed each statutory provision. The annotations included summaries of relevant judicial decisions and other related materials. The state code revision commission assembled the code and contracted with a third party to produce the annotations.
Most of the commission's members were state legislators.
The commission was funded and staffed through the legislative branch.
Georgia's supreme court held that the commission's job fell within the sphere of legislative authority.
Every year, the commission submitted the proposed statutory text and annotations to the legislature.
The legislature then voted to enact the statutes, merge the statutory sections with the annotations, and publish the code.
The commission contracted with LexisNexis to prepare the annotations.
The contract specified that any copyright vested exclusively in the state. Lexis did most of the work drafting the annotations.
Lexis had the exclusive right to publish, distribute, and sell the code.
Public dot resource dot org, which we'll call public, was a nonprofit organization that enabled public access to government records and legal materials.
Public made a digital version of the code available to the public for free on various websites.
Public also distributed free copies of the code to multiple organizations and state officials.
The commission sued public for copyright infringement, limiting its claim to the annotations.
Public counterclaimed for declaratory judgment that the entire code, including the annotations, wasn't protected by copyright.
The district court ruled for the commission. The eleventh circuit reversed. The United States Supreme Court granted cert.
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Get more case briefs explained with Quimbee. Quimbee has over 42,700 case briefs (and counting) keyed to 988 casebooks ► quimbee.com/case-briefs-overview
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc. - United States Supreme Court
590 U.S. ___ (2020)
Generally, the law can't be copyrighted because everyone is presumed to know the law, and therefore, must have access to it. In Georgia versus public dot resource dot org, the supreme court considered the scope of this exception.
The official code of Georgia annotated contained the text of every Georgia statute and various supplementary materials.
A set of annotations followed each statutory provision. The annotations included summaries of relevant judicial decisions and other related materials. The state code revision commission assembled the code and contracted with a third party to produce the annotations.
Most of the commission's members were state legislators.
The commission was funded and staffed through the legislative branch.
Georgia's supreme court held that the commission's job fell within the sphere of legislative authority.
Every year, the commission submitted the proposed statutory text and annotations to the legislature.
The legislature then voted to enact the statutes, merge the statutory sections with the annotations, and publish the code.
The commission contracted with LexisNexis to prepare the annotations.
The contract specified that any copyright vested exclusively in the state. Lexis did most of the work drafting the annotations.
Lexis had the exclusive right to publish, distribute, and sell the code.
Public dot resource dot org, which we'll call public, was a nonprofit organization that enabled public access to government records and legal materials.
Public made a digital version of the code available to the public for free on various websites.
Public also distributed free copies of the code to multiple organizations and state officials.
The commission sued public for copyright infringement, limiting its claim to the annotations.
Public counterclaimed for declaratory judgment that the entire code, including the annotations, wasn't protected by copyright.
The district court ruled for the commission. The eleventh circuit reversed. The United States Supreme Court granted cert.
Want more details on this case? Get the rule of law, issues, holding and reasonings, and more case facts here: quimbee.com/cases/georgia-v-public-resource-org-inc
The Quimbee App features over 42,700 case briefs keyed to 988 casebooks. Try it free for 7 days! ► quimbee.com/case-briefs-overview
Have Questions about this Case? Submit your questions and get answers from a real attorney here: quimbee.com/cases/georgia-v-public-resource-org-inc
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