![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thewayneThis is a VERY important case! A guy founded a website, public.resource.org, and began posting public laws, rules, and regulations that were passed and codified. Things like electrical regulations, etc.
Naturally he got sued by trade organizations that published these rules and made lots of bucks! Can't have people giving away our bread and butter!
Last month an appeals court confirmed an appeal of a 2022 decision upholding the site's right to publish this information.
From the EFF post: "As part of its mission of promoting public access to all kinds of government information, Public Resource acquires and posts online a wide variety of public documents, such as nonprofits’ tax returns, government-produced videos, and standards incorporated into law by reference. These standards include electrical, fire safety, and consumer safety codes that have been mandated by governments. But without Public Resource’s work, they are often difficult to access, much less share with others, which means that areas of law that profoundly affect our daily life are obscured from our view. Even courts have had trouble accessing the laws that they are supposed to apply.
The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), National Fire Protection Association Inc. (NFPA), and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) are organizations that develop private sector codes and standards aimed at advancing public safety, ensuring compatibility across products and services, facilitating training, and spurring innovation.
ASTM, NFPA, and ASHRAE sued Public Resource in 2013 for copyright and trademark infringement and unfair competition."
It's nice to know that we do sometimes get our tax dollars worth, though sometimes it takes quite the fight for it to happen.
I might be able to use this as a source at my library. I've had requests for legal citations, and we don't have the material. THIS might have it! Definitely worth looking in to. And some of those nonprofit tax returns could also be interesting reading.
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/appeals-court-upholds-publicresourceorgs-right-post-public-laws-and-regulations
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/09/17/1647253/public-resource-wins-2012-case-judge-rules-posting-regulations-online-is-fair-use
Naturally he got sued by trade organizations that published these rules and made lots of bucks! Can't have people giving away our bread and butter!
Last month an appeals court confirmed an appeal of a 2022 decision upholding the site's right to publish this information.
From the EFF post: "As part of its mission of promoting public access to all kinds of government information, Public Resource acquires and posts online a wide variety of public documents, such as nonprofits’ tax returns, government-produced videos, and standards incorporated into law by reference. These standards include electrical, fire safety, and consumer safety codes that have been mandated by governments. But without Public Resource’s work, they are often difficult to access, much less share with others, which means that areas of law that profoundly affect our daily life are obscured from our view. Even courts have had trouble accessing the laws that they are supposed to apply.
The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), National Fire Protection Association Inc. (NFPA), and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) are organizations that develop private sector codes and standards aimed at advancing public safety, ensuring compatibility across products and services, facilitating training, and spurring innovation.
ASTM, NFPA, and ASHRAE sued Public Resource in 2013 for copyright and trademark infringement and unfair competition."
It's nice to know that we do sometimes get our tax dollars worth, though sometimes it takes quite the fight for it to happen.
I might be able to use this as a source at my library. I've had requests for legal citations, and we don't have the material. THIS might have it! Definitely worth looking in to. And some of those nonprofit tax returns could also be interesting reading.
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/appeals-court-upholds-publicresourceorgs-right-post-public-laws-and-regulations
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/09/17/1647253/public-resource-wins-2012-case-judge-rules-posting-regulations-online-is-fair-use
no subject
Date: 2023-10-29 10:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 06:23 am (UTC)Absolutely. While I can appreciate a trade organization assembling their respective codes together, they usually add additional information that's useful to their members. But preventing access to the rules that We The People paid to have promulgated is just ridiculous. If I'm inspecting an addition to a house and think the wiring is not up to code, it'd be nice to be able to look up just what exactly the code is to see that the wire is substandard.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:59 am (UTC)Of course, in Canada, the Crown insists upon copyright over the laws passed by Parliament...
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 06:24 am (UTC)But does that copyright allow the citizenry access to the laws and code?
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:03 pm (UTC)Wow. Just. Wow.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 03:16 pm (UTC)Yeah, I guess that pretty much sums it up. The trade groups wanted exclusive rights to print the codes that were applicable to them, they wanted monopoly status so they could gouge their people.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-31 07:03 pm (UTC)If it's public record, it should be open for anyone to use/post. :o :o :o
Hugs, Jon
no subject
Date: 2023-10-31 07:08 pm (UTC)Sometimes the things that appear to be obvious aren't actually so, sadly. It is funny though that even the courts had trouble accessing the law because of shit like this.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-31 10:54 pm (UTC)Simpler times would be nice.
Not necessarily retro, just simpler. :o
no subject
Date: 2023-11-01 04:09 am (UTC)