Page:International Code Council v. UpCodes (2020).pdf/21

 enacted state and local laws binding on the enacting jurisdictions’ constituents.

Because this conclusion is not immediately apparent from any one particular case, the Court details at length the relevant cases and considerations that compel its holding in this section. The Court begins with the “Government Edicts” doctrine, which strongly suggests the law as adopted by legislative enactments is in the public domain. The Court then turns to circuit court precedent involving the model building codes of ICC’s predecessors, who brought claims remarkably similar to those that ICC advances here. The Court next considers broader in-circuit precedent on government incorporation by reference that ICC argues is contrary to the model building code cases. The Court subsequently addresses various constitutional and statutory concerns raised by ICC and finally summarizes the applicable legal standard.

At bottom, the controlling authorities make clear that a private party cannot exercise its copyrights to restrict the public’s access to the law. Applying that principle to the facts of this case, ICC cannot claim actionable infringement based only on Defendants’ accurate posting of the I-Codes as Adopted, which are essentially enacted state