Opposition Letter to S. 835, the "Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act" (Pro Codes Act

835, the ‘‘Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act’’ (Pro Codes Act) Dear Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Graham, and members of the Committee: The undersigned organizations write to express our strong opposition to the ‘‘Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act’’ (Pro Codes Act). [...] Providing free public access to the law furthers the purposes of copyright: to allow public access to 1 knowledge. [...] that all should have free access to its contents.” By extending copyright protection to the law, Pro Codes is unconstitutional under the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments, which guarantee the public’s right to read, share, and discuss the law. [...] The court correctly applied copyright law in determining that the substantial public benefits of free and easy access to the law, including government-mandated codes and standards, must be considered against any potential monetary losses to the copyright holders. [...] PublicResources that found that fair use permitted the third-party posting of an incorporated standard, the intent of the legislation is clearly to put the thumb on the scale against a fair use finding.