copyright texas public-domain
Public domain status of works by the state of Texas
<p>Stuff written by employees of the US government as part of their employment are supposed to be public domain simply because they're a US government employee, per <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_work_by_the_U.S._government" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>.</p>

<p>So what about for the state of Texas? More specifically, what about student publications like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Texan" rel="nofollow">The Daily Texan</a> that are owned by a state-owned university?</p>

<p>The situation in Texas <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/publications/communications_lawyer/2013/february/can_states_use_copyright_restrict_use_public_records.html" rel="nofollow">is unclear</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>It is worth mentioning Texas as a state where the law may require statutory authorization in order to copyright state documents. Although the statute does not explicitly state such as a requirement, it can be inferred from an attorney general opinion.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>At a bare minimum, the Department of Health, the State Preservation Board, the Water Development Board, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and county governments all have statutory authority to hold copyrights.</p>

<p>In your specific case, there's an additional complication.  Something is only a work of the State of Texas if one of the following is true: 1) it was created by a government employee as part of their job duties, or 2) it was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_for_hire" rel="nofollow">work for hire</a>.  It's quite likely that neither of the above is true for a student newspaper, rendering the question of Texas-owned copyrights irrelevant.</p>

<p>State government works in the US are not uncopyrightable in the US in general; the copyright law just doesn't protect <em>federal</em> works. </p>
