Michael Perelman wrote:
>----------------- HES POSTING -----------------
>
>         In other cases, one would have to 
> search harder to find a justification.
>California and 47 other states have building codes that are copyrighted by
>one of three nonprofit organizations.  The federal government requires U.S.
>physicians to use a medical billing code that's owned by the American
>Medical Association.  The National Fire Protection Association's
>copyrighted 900-page electrical code is in force, in one form or another,
>in all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Guam.  In all of these cases, people
>are expected to follow public laws, which are also private intellectual
>property.  A printed copy of the California Building Code costs $738
>(Balint 2001).  Legal challenges are underway, but they have not succeeded
>so far.

copyrighted--and expensive--public documents. Lovely.

Then there is this from "Realising the Vision:A 
HISTORY OF COPYRIGHT AGENCY LIMITED 1974 ? 2004" by Peter Meredith
(http://www.copyright.com.au/corporate/HOC.pdf)

Nearly 1500 years ago St Columba, Scotland?s most
famous saint, was at the centre of a copyright wrangle
that ended on an Irish battlefield.

Born in about 521 in County Donegal, Ireland, Columba was
either an O?Donnell or an O?Neill. As a monk, he indulged his
passion for books, making copies of Psalters (collections of
psalms), Bibles and other manuscripts for fellow monks.
When one of his former teachers, a monk named Finnian,
brought from Rome the first copy of St Jerome?s Psalter to
reach Ireland, Columba couldn?t resist borrowing it and
secretly making a copy.

Finnian discovered what Columba had done and
demanded the copy. When Columba refused to oblige,
Finnian arraigned him before the court of King Diarmaid.
The king ruled against Columba, pronouncing, ?To every
cow her calf and to every book its son-book. Therefore
the copy you made
 belongs to Finnian.?
Aggrieved, Columba goaded his family and clan into
declaring war on the King?s clans. During a climactic
battle in 561, which the O?Donnells won, some 3,000
men died.

So remorseful was Columba over this that he resolved to
spend the rest of his life in exile converting as many souls
to Christianity as had been killed in the battle. He
departed for Scotland at the age of 44 and founded a
monastery on the island of Iona. In his old age he spent
many hours daily copying books and documents and was
working on a Psalter when he died.

John C. M?daille