Too many side issues being discussed.
The Basics are:
- Our laws cannot be copyrighted otherwise private individuals could own our laws.
- Building codes are laws.
ICC can have a copyright on the IBC and IRC as originally published. But once a government entity has adopted it as part of a statute or regulation the resulting law has no copywrite. There is a difference between the original model code and the building code that is based on the model code. To repeat the adopted laws cannot be copyrighted.
