Opinion ID: 22991
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Merger and the Idea/Expression Dichotomy

Text: 61 The reasoning implemented in the due process/public domain section of this dissent is sufficient to bolster reversal. Reversal could also be predicated on another, equally potent basis. Veeck has asserted that once adopted, SBCCI's codes become facts that are not protected under the Copyright Act. Further, because the exact language is critical to an enacted law's meaning, the idea embodied in the law merges with SBCCI's unique expression. In that case, the copyright becomes unavailing to its owner. SBCCI retorts that citizens are able to produce their own version of the information contained in the model codes and that it is only its particular expression that is protected by the Copyright Act. The district court rejected Veeck's merger argument, finding that the subject of building codes is open to multiple forms of expression. The majority has affirmed this conclusion. 62 As a preliminary matter, copyright protection is not extended to facts, procedures, processes, methods of operation, or information in the public domain. See 17 U.S.C. § 102(b); Feist Publ'ns, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. at 350, 111 S. Ct. at 1290; Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 471 U.S. 539, 547-48, 105 S. Ct. 2218, 2223-23, 85 L. Ed. 2d 588 (1985); Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. v. Leadership Software, Inc., 12 F.3d 527, 533 (5th Cir. 1994). Similarly, a copyright protects the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. See Kepner-Tregoe, 12 F.3d at 533. [I]n order to protect the immunity of ideas from private ownership, when the expression is essential to the statement of the idea, the expression also will be unprotected, so as to insure free public access to the discussion of the idea. CCC Info. Servs., 44 F.3d at 68. Where an idea is susceptible only to one form of expression, the merger doctrine applies and the expression will not be protected by the Copyright Act. See 17 U.S.C. § 102(b); Kepner-Tregoe, 12 F.3d at 533; Mason v. Montgomery Data, Inc., 967 F.2d 135, 138-40 (5th Cir. 1992). This idea/expression dichotomy 'strike[s] a definitional balance between the First Amendment and the Copyright Act by permitting free communication of facts while still protecting an author's expression.' Harper & Row, 471 U.S. at 556, 105 S. Ct. at 2228 (citing, with approval, the Second Circuit's discussion of the copyright protection afforded to an idea versus its expression in Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 723 F.2d 195, 203 (2d Cir. 1983)). There is no bright-line test for determining whether an idea is distinguishable from its expression. The merger, or lack of it, should be determined based on the facts of the case. See Country Kids 'N City Slicks, Inc. v. Sheen, 77 F.3d 1280, 1285 (10th Cir. 1996). It is appropriate for the court to incorporate policy choices into its merger analysis, including the public's interest in free access to the law. See CCC Info. Servs., 44 F.3d at 68. 63 I agree with the majority that prior to adoption by local municipalities, SBCCI's model codes are entitled to copyright protection. Although no court has held decisively that the merger doctrine may be used to invalidate a copyright in a privately developed code that is enacted into law, there is merit to Veeck's argument that once enacted, the codes do become a fact or idea, in that there is only one accurate way to express an enacted law. The majority fails to explain how, once a model code is adopted as law, either in whole or in part, there exists any other way of expressing the law. 4 In CCC Information Services, the Second Circuit declined to invalidate the plaintiff's copyright interest in its Red Book car valuation that had been adopted into the state's insurance code, but explicitly acknowledged that the defendant's merger argument is not easily rebutted. Id. at 68. The Second Circuit ultimately rejected the merger doctrine based on the need, where elements of the copyright law conflict, to determine, as a policy judgment, which of its commands prevails over the other. Id. The court concluded that the fundamental principle of copyright law of granting authors exclusive rights to their writings outweighed the policy benefit of preserving public access to ideas. See id. at 68-72. Here, I conclude that the policy benefit of preserving unfettered public access to the law outweighs the interest of permitting the holder of a copyright in a model code to maintain that copyright subsequent to the code's adoption into law. 64 By its very nature, an enacted law enters the public realm as a concrete, definite fact/idea. There is only one accurate way to express a law. Courts consistently stress that, as a preliminary matter, the exact words of a statute govern its interpretation. See, e.g., Kennedy v. Texas Utils., 179 F.3d 258, 261 (5th Cir. 1999) ('The starting point for interpreting a statute is the language of the statute itself.' (citing Consumer Prod. Safety Comm'n v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U.S. 102, 108, 100 S. Ct. 2051, 64 L. Ed. 2d 766 (1980)); City of Sherman v. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 643 S.W.2d 681, 684 (Tex. 1983) (Generally the intent and meaning [of the legislature] is obtained primarily from the language of the statute (citing Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Walker, 83 S.W.2d 929, 934 (Tex. 1935)). The importance of examining the precise language of a statute in order to glean its meaning demonstrates the concrete, inflexible nature of a statute's language once it is enacted into law. The same concept applies to an administrative regulation, such as a building code. An individual attempting to gain access to the building code of Anna or Savoy, Texas has only one choice -- it must view the enacted version of SBCCI's model code. This is a case where the merger doctrine is especially appropriate because other methods of expressing the idea are foreclosed. See Educ. Testing Servs. v. Katzman, 793 F.2d 1533, 1539 (3d Cir. 1986) (citing Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp., 714 F.2d 1240, 1253 (3d Cir. 1983)). An individual wishing to publish the text of a law cannot develop his own, unique version and still publish an authoritative copy. 65 Moreover, it is antithetical to our nation's concept of public participation for a private entity to monopolize the public laws. See generally Kepner-Tregoe, 12 F.3d at 533 (justifying the merger doctrine on the basis that no one should be given a monopoly over an idea). Congress could not have intended for a private organization to be given the exclusive right to control others' ability to copy and distribute an enacted law. Even the towns themselves apparently keep relevant portions of the SBCCI code as the official version. 66 I am not dissuaded from applying merger in this case by the Second Circuit's opinion in CCC Information Services. That court did not discuss, with any detail, the issue of whether a copyrighted work would merge with its underlying idea when enacted into law. Instead, the court was concerned with whether the ideas expressed in a compilation of informational matter were entitled to copyright protection. Here, in contrast, our focus is on the adoption of the copyrighted work into law. I would agree with Veeck that once adopted, SBCCI's model code becomes a concrete fact that is outside the realm of copyrightable works under section 102(b) of the Copyright Act. See Feist, 499 U.S. at 356, 111 S. Ct. at 1293 (explaining that section 102(b) is universally understood to prohibit any copyright in facts). This same consideration convinces me that once SBCCI's code is enacted by reference into law, the ideas embodied in the law merge with SBCCI's original creation, causing the model code to lose its copyright protection. 67 SBCCI spends thousands of hours developing its codes, providing a valuable service to governments that choose to adopt the model codes as their own. The majority has embraced the arguments set forth by SBCCI that its economic future will be compromised if citizens, such as Veeck, are able to post copies of copyrighted codes on the internet. This argument lacks merit. As SBCCI itself points out, private citizens are already permitted to copy SBCCI's code from the municipality at City Hall. As such, citizens are able to avoid having to buy SBCCI's codes from the organizations by viewing a copy at a local government office or library. It is illogical for SBCCI to argue that its viability is threatened if a private individual is able to copy the law to share with others because these others could just as easily access the information from the local government without arousing SBCCI's protestation. The minute burden that might befall the standards-writing organizations because of the actions of Veeck and others like him is outweighed by the benefit of Veeck's act of enhancing unfettered access to the law. 68 Based on the foregoing discussion, I would hold that once a model code is adopted into law by the government, a private entity, such as SBCCI, may no longer assert a copyright over the law's content, for the law enters the public domain and should be readily available for access by all citizens. Further, upon enactment, the law transforms into an idea that is no longer distinguishable from its expression, causing SBCCI's codes to lose their copyright protection. For these reasons, I would reverse the judgment of the district court. 69 I respectfully dissent from the majority's contrary conclusion. NOTES: 1 The majority emphasizes that Veeck copied the regulation from a clearly marked, copyrighted edition of SBCCI's model code, rather than, presumably, going to the community in question, obtaining a copy of the regulation, and retyping or scanning that document onto his website. I do not view this as material. As Justice Harlan, sitting as a circuit justice, stated over one hundred years ago, any person desiring to publish the statutes of a state may use any copy of such statutes to be found in any printed book, whether such book be the property of the state or the property of an individual. Howell v. Miller, 91 F. 129, 137 (6th Cir. 1898) (refusing to enjoin publication of a competing compilation of state statutes and noting that it would not matter if the defendant had cut from [the plaintiff's] books the general laws of [the State]). This case raises the issue of the defendant's conduct with regard to his posting the laws of Texas towns Anna and Savoy on his website (the majority's attention to the defendant's posting of the laws of Denison, Texas notwithstanding). My review of the record below indicates that both Anna and Savoy adopted the precise version of the model code posted by Veeck. 2 The First Circuit noted that since the rule denying copyright protection to judicial opinions and statutes grew out of a much different set of circumstances than do these technical regulatory codes, we think BOCA should at least be allowed to argue its position fully on the basis of an evidentiary record. BOCA, 628 F.2d at 736. 3 This concern is not without merit. It is undisputed that SBCCI spends considerable time developing its codes, and thus provides a valuable service to local governments that choose to adopt the codes, either in whole or in part. The majority asserts, however, that a refusal to enforce SBCCI's copyright could result in a loss of incentive to create municipal codes. According to the majority, that loss would result in increased governmental costs as well as the loss of the consistency and quality to which standard codes aspire. I disagree. SBCCI could charge a fair price to a city for code preparation, which a city could then compare to the cost of in-house preparation. 4 While the majority acknowledges that [t]he global enactment of a code does make that code the law of the enacting municipality and hence, in one sence, a 'fact,' it steadfastly maintains that Veeck's use cannot be saved by the merger doctrine. The majority would, however, hold harmless certain individuals quoting certain sections of the law for a particular purpose, such as contractors who need to use building codes. It is difficult indeed to distinguish between this use and that of Veeck. It is beyond peradventure that Veeck posted the building codes on the internet site as a service to the general public, a class which may include contractors and home builders.