Public.Resource.org Works w/Cyberlaw Clinic, Asks States to Increase Judicial Transparency and Facilitate Access to Model Jury Instructions  | Cyberlaw Clinic

"Public.Resource.org, working with Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, has advanced its mission to enhance public access to government information by challenging states that improperly claim copyright protection over model jury instructions used by litigants in state courts. By making model jury instructions available to the public, and by encouraging states to remove barriers to access, Public.Resource.org aims to enhance access to justice and promote engagement with the judicial process. 

A state jury trial generally culminates with the judge’s charging the jury — instructing it how to consider the evidence presented by both sides and assess that evidence in the context of applicable law. Courts rely on model jury instructions to ensure juries operate in accordance with clear and consistent standards.

If a private individual or company develops a template set of jury instructions, that individual or company may be able to claim rights in the resulting document. But, many states rely on government-affiliated bodies to develop pattern jury instructions. Too often, states wrongly treat these model documents as subject to federal copyright protection — licensing them to commercial companies and significantly restricting access.

This approach flies in the face of the long-standing “edicts of government” doctrine, which makes clear that government edicts may not be subjects of copyright. The United States Supreme Court confirmed just last year — in a case involving Public.Resource.org’s efforts to make available the Official Code of Georgia Annotated — that such edicts are not entitled to copyright protection and legally belong in the public domain."