In the dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that while statutes and regulations cannot be protected by copyright, “accompanying notes lacking legal force can be.” The state, he wrote, makes it clear that the annotations are not legally binding.
How this decision will affect the International Code Council’s (ICC) lawsuit against online building code provider UpCodes and whether the company will be able to continue to post building codes on its website for the benefit of its subscribers remains to be seen.
