No. And plagiarism isn't actionable. Copyright infringment is. But it's not infringement either. Go right ahead. Just make sure you're not giving legal advice if you're not a lawyer... Deena _______________________________________________________________ Any opinions are offered without knowledge of the specific law of your jurisdiction and with only the limited information provided in your post. No advice given here should be reasonably relied upon by you or any third party without consulting an attorney who is aware of all of the facts and law surrounding your situation. Any advice given here is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship in any way.
Not sure if this is what you are asking about the text of all federal/state laws are in the public domain. This means you can use them for basically anything you want without fear of copyright infringement. That said it will be difficult to market a site like that, simply because the information is so widely available from other sources.
Actually, that's not quite fully true. Oregon claims that their laws are copywritten by the State of Oregon and thus can't be republished without permission. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080513-fight-shaping-up-over-oregons-state-law-copyright-claims.html I seem to recall that the Oregon courts finally rejected this recently, but I can't find a citation to prove it. In any event, just because the information is publicly available doesn't mean that it's in the public domain.
This is completely legal, however it would be nearly impossible to promote it as there are hundreds of websites with laws out there.
I can't find the case either but I am fairly certain the courts rejected it. It is true that just because something is publicly available doesn't mean it's in the public domain, but any work created by the U.S. government is automatically in the public domain. There are obviously some exceptions though classified material etc.
So, it appears that a court never got to rule on this... the Oregon Legislative Committee withdrew their complaint. http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/oregon-v-justia As for the US Government... you're right. Section 105 of the Copyright Act states that things created by the US Government aren't eligible for copyright protection (though the US can receive works from others and remain protected). http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#105 Interestingly enough, though, the US Government can claim copyright over its works in other countries. BUT, works of state governments are not covered by Section 105 of the Copyright Act, and are thus protectable. So, the OP can post Fed laws, but potentially not all state laws.