SCOTUS: Annotations To Official Code Of Georgia Not Protected By Copyright

Well-settled precedent establishes that state and federal law is not protected by copyright. The situation had, however, been less clear with respect to annotations and commentary on the law. Under the century-old Supreme Court case of Callaghan v. Myers, 128 U.S. 618 (1888), a private reporter's annotations and commentary on the law (which itself has no legal force) is subject to copyright protection. In yesterday's 5-4 opinion, the Supreme Court determined whether a state may itself hold copyright in annotations and commentary authored by the state (or with the state's imprimatur) on its state code. The majority's answer was "no." 

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts held that the copyrightability of a state's non-binding commentary and annotations was governed by the "government edicts doctrine," as stated in another century-old decision, Banks v. Manches­ter, 128 U. S. 244 (1888). In Banks, the Supreme Court held that judges could not hold