A copyright infringement lawsuit filed in 2017 against building industry startup company UpCodes by the International Code Council (ICC) is getting ready to head to court next year. 

UpCodes is a for-profit company that dubs itself as a "searchable platform for building codes" by providing a variety of code-related services for designers and other building industry professionals, including a Revit plug-in that can scan building models for code compliance. This for-profit use of the ICC-generated code information is what's at issue in the lawsuit. 

Although International Building Code (IBC) guidelines are written into the building codes specified by nearly all municipalities in the country, the codes themselves are considered to be under copyright by the ICC. ICC, a non-profit entity, does the work of researching, writing, and periodically updating the codes itself, a service that is funded through the sale of comprehensive code packages to businesses, municipal entities, and other interested parties. Because ICC relies on this funding stream in order to fuel the development of its code infrastructure, the organization argues that it must strongly defend its copyright claims.

In an ICC statement explaining the suit, the group writes, "The lawsuit was filed to prevent UpCodes from attempting to make a profit for its owners and investors by taking–without paying for–building codes that the Code Council created and updates at great expense."

In addition, Engineering News Record reports that ICC takes issue with the fact that UpCodes never formally asked for permission to host and publish code language and that it is making use of this information outside of its conventional third-party access agreements. ICC writes, "The Code Council is proud to work with a number of innovative third parties that provide access to our codes and standards. Unfortunately, UpCodes has never sought such a license, deciding instead to take our codes to develop a for-profit business and putting our whole system of building safety in jeopardy."

ICC contends that the loss of revenue stemming from the violation of its copyright claims could hinder the organization's efforts to continually update the codes themselves, potentially putting public safety at risk as new updates are potentially delayed or fail to materialize entirely.

Meanwhile, officials at UpCodes explain to Engineering News Record that they are in the clear, legally speaking, since their work involves publishing information that professionals already have access to, for free, through state and municipal code documents. 

The lawsuit has the potential to reshape the way professionals access building codes in the United States. 

Unlike nearly every other country, where codes are written by government agencies, American building codes are written by private sector entities and then adopted into public policy. The arrangement, described as a type of public-private partnership by ICC General Counsel Mel Oncu in a recent ICC-produced podcast embedded above, relies on private and non-profit entities like ICC to function. 

Writing in support of the current arrangement, ICC explains, "Without copyright protection for codes and standards, resource-limited government agencies would have to undertake the difficult and expensive task of replicating the current system. This system operates with openness, transparency and balance, and has been highly effective in protecting public health and safety."