For a quick summary ....
"No man may own the law:" A basic principle of our society, one documented all the way back to the Magna Carta. Yup, King John nearly lost his head over this.
"Copyright:" Another old tradition, protecting the rights of the creator of a published work. A classic example is the way McDonalds gets to pay the architect every time they build a franchise, even though they're using the same set of plans as they used last time. Or, the way the music industry disputes whether you have the right to e-mail me a copy of your Dead Kennedy's CD collection.
Those two principles came into conflict the moment someone first wrote a 'model code,' specifically so that governments might adopt it. The issure really blossomed when Congress wrote legislation 'encouraging' federal agencies to adopt such standards, rather than write their own. Once that happened, "trade organizations" sprouted like mushrooms after a spring rain.
Matters came to a head when Bill Veeck decided to add on to his house. A bit of a computer geek, he was shocked at all the various codes and standards he encountered - and his difficulty in obtaining them. So, he did what any geek would do - he set up a web site and posted the codes used by every town around - and even managed to get paid for his efforts. The "National Furbie Shelf Code," adopted by the City of Despair, was now available, on-line and free, as the "City of Despair Furbie Shelf Code."
Long story short, the publishers of the various codes attempted to stop Mr. Veeck. By the time the dust settled, we had a decision bt Nr. Veeck's appellate court saying "Right On!" Alas, there is also another appellate court that once made a ruling that might be understood to support the various code groups. The US Supreme Court declined to settle the matter once and for all.
Since then, various groups have taken it upon themselves to put every imaginable public document on the web, somewhere. That traffic ticket you got in high school? Probably out there. There are entire organizations dedicated to posting such 'bulk resource' things.
Being poor losers - IMO, expressing all the anger of the kid caught with hs hand in the cookie jar - the NFPA has continues to assert their 'right' to anyone they can buffalo. This site seems to want to wait for the dust to settle.
The idea that code publishers can circumvent the court rulings that 'no man may own the law' by asking that the codes be adpoted 'by reference,' rather than by being simply adopted is, IMO, doomed to failure. Either something is law, or it's not. Couple that with the past few years' active campaigning to have the NEC adopted 'copmete, as is, without local ammendments,' and you further undermine any distinction between the 'code' and the 'law.'
