Keywords: Copyright, Supreme Court, Georgia, Public.Resource.Org., annotations, OCGA, Government Edicts Doctrine
Introduction
One would think that when a state creates an “official” code of its statutes, the public would have the right to freely copy and share that collection of laws. One would also think that fair-minded judges would unanimously agree with this point and objurgate any view to the contrary. Well, think again. The 2020 Supreme Court case of Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org. ratifies a point that I make often: much of the copyright law of this country is a messy pig’s breakfast of uncleanly written and historically complex statutes