Typical, obtuse state-ist hypocrisy: what's yours is mine, but mine is not yours, even if you pay for it.
The precise issue for the State of (smokin too much rope) Oregon is a legal web site called 'Justia' which republished the state's Revised Statutes in full. And Oregon didn't like it.
From William Patry: Oregon goes wacka wacka huna kuna.
The State of Oregon appears to be taking a novel position: that it has copyright in its statutes.
The prohibition on copyright in government works in Section 105 of the United States Code only applies to works of the United States government. States are free to protect works that their employees create as a statutory matter, but that hardly ends the matter. There are public policy grounds for not protecting works too, and the status of laws as commands has long been recognized as one such ground.
Flippin
TY boingboing.net