Copyright and the California Code

Carl Malamud, champion of open-access government, is taking on the state of California, reports the San Jose Press Democrat. California claims copyright to California's laws - meaning the state controls access and price. Malamud has begun publishing copies of federal, state and county codes online in direct violation of claimed copyright. On Labor Day, he posted the entire 38-volume California Code of Regulations, which includes all of the state's regulations from health care and insurance to motor vehicles and investment, on his Public Resource website. He says "A system of selling codes for hundreds of dollars and then making public access inconvenient by requiring you to drive long distances to an official depository library hurts us all. "