It does not sound like the instructor is giving all the information needed. If he is stating as a fact one cannot quote or display a section of the code in testimony or in a report I do not believe he is correct.

First of all, the question of use of the NFPA’s material has been in court for years. I am not sure if there has been a final outcome. As with any other business NFPA depend on the sale of its product to exist. Over the years individual have taken advantage and copied the entire standard and made them available online. This cut into NFPA’s income. No matter what is decided in these court cases there is a section of the Copyright Act that addresses the issue you bring up.

To give you a better idea as to what can be used and when it can be used I suggest you for articles addressing Fair Use of copyright materials. This is Section 107 of the Copyright Act. It is easy to read.

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use. There are four key points that cover the use of copyrighted material. These are the purpose and character of the use. The second is the nature of the copyrighted work. The third is the amount and substantiality of the portion used in related to the copyrighted work as a whole. The last is the effect of the use upon the potential marked or value of the copyrighted work. If your read these sections you will have a better understanding of how one can use the NFPA material.

The use of copyright materials used in cases are easily reconciled by the “important distinction between copyrighted works that happen to capture information that proves relevant to subsequent litigation, and works that are intended to capture such information, specifically for the purpose of the litigation.” When, for example, an expert witness relies upon something, be it an article, an x-ray, a computer program, or a scribbled note, the expert’s reliance on the work, in and of itself, turns that work into an irreplaceable piece of evidence in the case. The thing relied upon must be examined as a piece of evidence, and reproducing and using it for this purpose falls squarely within protections afforded by the fair use doctrine. When you ask an opposing expert for a copy of the articles and book chapters he relies upon, you are entitled to copies, and making them does not amount to copyright infringement. That is the case even if they are “copyrighted” works, and even if you need to copy them in their entirety.

This is not a legal opinion, just a personal opinion from research I have conducted on this subject. Hope it helps.

Jim Mazerat
Forensic Investigations Group