No One Can Own the Law: How the Pro Codes Act Would Interfere with Public Access to the Law — Association of Research Libraries ARL opposes the Pro Codes Act, which would affirm copyright ownership of elements of the law to private entities. The Pro Codes Act would reverse the foundational legal principle known...

For more information on why the Pro Codes Act should be opposed check out ARL's resource page:

Re:Create Letter Opposing PRO CODES Act - Re:Create

Read our full letter here: recreatecoalition.org/reports/recr...

🚨Tomorrow, @JudiciaryGOP & @HouseJudiciary hold a hearing on the PRO CODES Act.

As SCOTUS has already ruled: “No one can own the law.”

This bill threatens that precedent by extending copyright to public laws and standards, restricting your right to access the rules we live by. ⚖️🏛️

Happy #fairusefriday TL;DR: Copying thousands of copyrighted works into a database for analysis to create something entirely new (like a groundbreaking article) is quintessential fair use. No permission needed and no fees paid. 🚫💰

Read Executive Director @bc_butler’s full thread below ⬇️

Pro Codes Act—Or, What If The Law Came Behind A Paywall? What if reading the law required a subscription? That’s the premise, promise, and peril of the so-called Pro Codes Act

Andrew Leahey also expressed criticism of the bill in a @forbes.com op-ed detailing how locking away public safety codes creates massive compliance barriers, restricting vital access for citizens, businesses, researchers, and first responders who rely on this information.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) stands in strong opposition as well and sent a letter to the committee’s ranking members highlighting their concerns.

Re:Create Statement on the Senate Re-Introduction of the Pro Codes Act - Re:Create Washington, D.C. – Following U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Thom Tillis (R-NC)’s reintroduction of the Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes (...

🚨 Ahead of Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing, opposition is mounting against the Pro Codes Act. Re:Create has continued to highlight how this legislation threatens transparency by putting legally binding public laws behind a paywall.

A note from Re:Create: Think Before Reshuffling Copyright Agencies - Re:Create As this newsletter goes out to you, the House Committee on Administration is set to consider HR 6028, the “Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act.” The bill springs from the President’s dismiss...

Last month, @bb.usefairuse.com warned that rushing HR 6028, which would separate the Copyright Office from the Library of Congress, could disrupt key relationships and weaken checks and balances in copyright policymaking. Learn more:

Search Engines, AI, And The Long Fight Over Fair Use Long before generative AI, copyright holders warned that new technologies for reading and analyzing information would destroy creativity. Internet search engines, they argued, were infringement machin...

EFF’s Joe Mullin argues that AI training is no different since it is transformative and non-substitutive and explains how expanding copyright laws would only hurt smaller innovators.

ICYMI: @eff.org highlights how fair use has allowed innovation and creativity to flourish throughout decades in the U.S., including with an invention used by almost everyone today: search engines.

These trending TikTok audios, transformed from old ads and TV clips, are more than just sounds; they’re cultural milestones. Thanks to fair use, creators can repurpose these snippets for comedy and connection, turning copyrighted clips into shared language. This @nytimes.com has more:

#FairUseFriday What is a “Jet2Holiday” and why is my GenZ coworker saying “You’re doing amazing, sweetie”? 🛫💅

Public Laws, Private Paywalls: The Case Against the Pro Codes Act - R Street Institute The old adage “ignorance of the law is no excuse” makes clear that no one avoids legal liability by claiming to be unaware of the law. Yet many important public laws remain locked behind paywalls erec...

ICYMI: @rstreet.bsky.social shares how the Pro Codes Act would effectively let private organizations control access to laws by maintaining copyrights on incorporated standards.

Link Taxes - Re:Create Link Taxes are proposals to require technology platforms to pay publishers when they include links or snippets of headlines or article previews from news websites.

Learn more:

🗞️🔗 "Link taxes" like the proposed JCPA, would force tech platforms to pay just to share news links or snippets. Re:Create strongly opposes these bills as they threaten First Amendment rights, undermine fair use, and only empower big media conglomerates.

A Massive Win for the Open Internet: Celebrating the Supreme Court’s 9-0 Decision in Cox v. Sony - Re:Create For years, those of us who care about a free and open internet have been sounding the alarm about a legal battle that threatened the very foundation of the free and open internet: Cox Communications, ...

ICYMI: Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Cox in the landmark case, Cox v. Sony. Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com explains how this is a win for creativity, innovation, and free expression on and off the internet:

Here’s one of our favorites:

#FairUseFriday: Exactly 0 perfect brackets remain, but that is part of what makes March Madness so fun! And of course it's not just for basketball fans – the memes, GIFs, and videos created to make fun of the busted brackets (all made possible thanks to fair use) are half the entertainment.

A Baseless Copyright Claim Against a Web Host—and Why It Failed Higbee & Associates, a law firm known for sending copyright demand letters to website owners, targeted May First Movement Technology, accusing it of infringing a photograph owned by Agence

Check out the @eff.org's latest victory against troll-ish law firm Higbee & Associates - lots of lessons here about liability, copyright incentives, and why you can't give rightsholders unchecked power to censor and extort the web: www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Read more about why Re:Create opposes site-blocking: t.co/EZnTL0POMg

If it can happen to code, it can happen to political candidates, bloggers, and journalists. The DMCA already provides sufficient enforcement tools and strengthening the site-blocking regime through legislation like FADPA, Block BEARD is an unnecessary and risky move that propels censorship.

Anthropic just proved why site-blocking is a dangerous tool. They showed what over-blocking actually looks like: thousands of takedown requests that nuked legitimate content, not just content that infringed on their copyright.

A note from Re:Create: The Supreme Court’s Cox Opinion Is a Breath of Fresh Air - Re:Create By Brandon Butler It’s April, spring is in the air, and the Supreme Court got it right in Cox v. Sony: liability for online copyright infringement belongs on the infringer, not on neutral service prov...

Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com shares in a new blog post how the ruling prevents mass evictions from the internet, affirms internet service providers as neutral carriers, and safeguards the future of digital innovation:

🆕 In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court reversed a $1 billion copyright infringement verdict against Cox Communications, securing a massive victory for the open internet by ruling that internet service providers are not liable for their users' actions.

Re:Create Letter with Further Concerns re HR 6028 - Re:Create

📨Yesterday, Re:Create sent a letter to the House Committee on Administration expressing continued concerns about HR 6028, the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act.

Re:Create and Its Members Highlight Cox v. Sony 9-0 Supreme Court Decision - Re:Create

⚖️ Big win at SCOTUS: a unanimous 9-0 decision in Cox v. Sony. In this decision, the Court reaffirmed a simple principle: Copyright liability belongs to infringers, not the neutral technologies that power the internet.

Check out Re:Create’s “What They Are Saying” on the Court's decision:

Five Ways Fair Use is Fueling Our Gen AI Future: - Chamber of Progress It’s Fair Use Week, an annual spotlight on and celebration of the uniquely American copyright doctrine that’s supercharged our nation’s innovation culture and

As @progresschamber.org shares, fair use is a long-standing copyright principle that is essential in shaping cutting edge technology. For the U.S. to continue to lead on technological advancements, lawmakers must safeguard fair use even as new technologies emerge ➡️

March 20, 2026 Senators Coons, Cornyn, colleagues introduce Pro Codes Act to protect and improve [crossed out and replaced by restrict] access to safety standards

There, we fixed that for you. A little thread on the reintroduction of a terrible act:

www.coons.senate.gov/news/press-r...

CDT Joins Letter Opposing Fast-Tracking of Bill to Restructure Copyright Office The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) joined a letter by the RE:CREATE Coalition – of which CDT is a member – opposing the effort to fast-track HR 6028, legislation that would separate the Copyright Office from the Library of Congress, without hearings to carefully consider the ramifications of doing so. The Copyright Office has been housed […]

CDT joined a letter by the RE:CREATE Coalition – of which CDT is a member – opposing the effort to fast-track HR 6028, legislation that would separate the Copyright Office from the Library of Congress, without hearings to carefully consider the ramifications of doing so.