The literature discussing the issue of states’ rights to copyright their publications is not vast. Below are citations and links to the literature that discusses this issue, followed by citations to case law that may have bearing on the materials being put into the public domain. If you have other citations to share please add them in the comments.
American Association of Law Libraries. “Digital Access to Legal Information Committee – State Online Legal Information ”, n.d. http://community.aallnet.org/DigitalAccesstoLegalInformationCommittee/StateOnlineLegalInformation.
American Association of Law Libraries. “State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources”, n.d. http://www.aallnet.org/main-menu/Publications/products/Report-on-Authentication-of-Online-Legal-Resources.html.
American Association of Law Libraries. “State-by-State Report on Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Information”, n.d. http://www.aallnet.org/Archived/Government-Relations/Issue-Briefs-and-Reports/2003/ppareport.html.
Committee on Intellectual Property Rights and the Emerging Information Infrastructure. Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. National Research Council. The digital dilemma : intellectual property in the information age. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2000.
Currier, B., Gilliland, A. & Hansen, D. R. (2016). Copyright and Digitization and Preservation
of State Government Documents: A Detailed Analysis. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship, 1(1), 1-10. https://www.jcel-pub.org/index.php/jcel/article/view/5915/5341
Dmitrieva, Irina Y. “State Ownership of Copyrights in Primary Law Materials.” Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal 23 (2001 2000): 81. http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/hascom23&collection=journals&index=&id=96. (Access to article requires subscription to HeinOnline)
Fortney, K. (2010). Ending Copyright Claims in State Primary Legal Materials: Toward an Open Source Legal System. Law Library Journal, 102(1), 59 – 68. UC Santa Cruz: Retrieved from: http://eprints.cdlib.org/uc/item/3kp0g81h
Ghosh, S. “Copyright as Privatization: The Case of Model Codes.” Tul. L. Rev. 78 (2003): 653. http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/tulr78§ion=38. (Access to article requires subscription to HeinOnline)
Grotke, A. (2013, May). The State Electronic Records Initiative: Content Matters Interview.
Retrieved from http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2013/05/the-state-electronic-records-initiative-content-matters-interview/
———. “Deprivatizing Copyright.” Case W. Res. L. Rev. 54 (2003): 387. http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/cwrlrv54§ion=16. (Access to article requires subscription to HeinOnline)
Howard, Jennifer. “HathiTrust Case Highlights Authors’ Fears About Fate of Their Work Online.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 2, 2011, sec. Hot Type. http://chronicle.com/article/Hot-Type-HathiTrust-Lawsuit/129241/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en.
Kasianovitz, Kris. “Why Care About Copyright?” DttP 36, no. 2 (Summer 2008): 12–14. http://wikis.ala.org/godort/images/d/d0/DttP_36n2_web.pdf
Larivière, Jules. “Guidelines for Legal Deposit Legislation”, n.d. http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s1/gnl/legaldep1.htm.
Messenger, Ashley, and Dennis Pitman. “Can States Use Copyright to Restrict the Use of Public Records?” Communications Lawyer 29, no. 3 (February 2013): 4–8. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=90370922&site=ehost-live&scope=site (Access to article requires subscription to Ebsco)
Nodiff, M. J. “Copyrightability of Works of the Federal and State Governments Under the 1976 Act.” . Louis ULJ 29 (1984): 91. http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/stlulj29§ion=14. (Access to article requires subscription to HeinOnline)
Svengalis, Kendall. “Chapter 2: A Brief History of Legal Publishing.” In Legal Information Buyer’s Guide & Reference Manual, 2010. http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.lbr/lebuygrm0014&id=16&collection=lbr&index=. (Access to article requires subscription to HeinOnline)
Case Law
Banks v Manchester. 128 U.S. 244, *9 S. Ct. 36, **32 L. Ed. 425, ***1888 U.S. LEXIS 2216 Date Accessed: 2012/11/30. The court affirmed the denial of copyright protection because judicial opinions were public property, free to all citizens, and could not be copyrighted.
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, NEW YORK, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross-Appellee, –v.– FIRST AMERICAN REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS, Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant, EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS, INC., doing business as Experian, doing business as Experian Real Estate Solutions, TRW REDI PROPERTY DATA, also known as Information Systems and Services, Inc., Defendants. 261 F.3d 179, *2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 16706, **59 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA) 1639Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) P28,322 Date Accessed: 2012/11/30.
PETER VEECK, doing business as Regional Web, Plaintiff/Counter Defendant-Appellant, versus SOUTHERN BUILDING CODE CONGRESS INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant/Counter Claimant-Appellee. 293 F.3d 791, *2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 10963, **63 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA) 1225Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) P28,448
COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA et al., Petitioners, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Respondent; CALIFORNIA FIRST AMENDMENT COALITION, Real Party in Interest. 170 Cal. App. 4th 1301, *89 Cal. Rptr. 3d 374, **2009 Cal. App. LEXIS 148, ***37 Media L. Rep. 1331
BUILDING OFFICIALS & CODE ADM., PLAINTIFF, APPELLEE, v. CODE TECHNOLOGY, INC., DEFENDANT, APPELLANT. 170 Cal. App. 4th 1301, *89 Cal. Rptr. 3d 374, **2009 Cal. App. LEXIS 148, ***37 Media L. Rep. 1331