Opinion AGO U94-16.

• Case Date: November 16, 1994
• Court: Georgia

Georgia Attorney General Opinions 1994. Opinion AGO U94-16. November 16, 1994UNOFFICIAL OPINION U1994-16To: Representative District 115Re: Publication of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated in Book Format and in CD-ROM Format.This opinion is in response to the questions raised in your letter concerning the powers and duties of the Code Revision Commission (the "Commission") relating to the publication of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated and any unannotated version thereof in book format and in CD-ROM format. Initially, you inquire whether the Commission would be required to take competitive bids in order to license the use of the state copyrighted portions of the O.C.G.A. for use in electronic on-line services or in CD-ROM products. In Harrison Co. v. Code Revision Comm'n, 244 Ga. 325 (1979), the Georgia Supreme Court held that the Commission is not subject to the competitive bidding requirements of O.C.G.A. § 50-5-67. Therefore, it is my unofficial opinion that the Commission is not required to take competitive bids in order to license the use of the state copyrighted portions of the O.C.G.A. You also inquire (1) whether the Commission can grant a license, either exclusive or nonexclusive, to an electronic publisher other than the official book publisher for use of the annotations, indexes, notes, and other material written and typeset by the book publisher at that publisher's expense but copyrighted by the state pursuant to the book contract, and (2) if so, whether the book publisher would have a valid claim for unjust enrichment if the Commission granted a license to use the annotations, indexes, notes, and other copyrighted material to another company. The terms and conditions of the Agreement (the "Agreement"), entered into between the Commission and the book publisher (the "Publisher") on February 26, 1991, taken together with the Commission's statutory duties, are dispositive with respect to these questions. The Agreement provides "for the respective rights and duties of the Commission and the Publisher with respect to the preparation, publication, distribution, and sale of the printed Official Code of Georgia Annotated . . . in book form." (Emphasis added.) Agreement § 1-1. Under the terms of the Agreement, the Publisher is granted "the exclusive right to distribute and sell in printed, bound book...