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By Miriam Raftery
September 2, 2015 (San Diego) – A federal judge has ruled that citizens in California have the right to post video clips of public hearings, dismissing the city of Inglewood’s claims of copyright violation as without merit.
The case involved YouTube videos posted by Joseph Teixeira, an Inglewood resident, who included short clips of official videos from city council hearings along with critical commentary.
While federal law protects public access to federal records such as Congressional hearings, it’s up to each state to determine whether materials at state and local public meetings will be protected by copyright laws or not.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald found that California law prevents state or local entities from claiming copyright protection for records of public meetings. In addition, the state found that Teixeira’s use was protected by the fair use doctrine.
The court cited the California Constitution and the California Public Records Act, which create broad presumptions of unrestricted disclosure of public records, as well as other specific statutes, Lexology reports.
As for finding a fair use right to the works, the judge noted that the videos are non-commercial and for informational purposes. Moreover, he used only excerpts and transformed his works by adding commentary, further strengthening his case even if the use had been commercial. In addition the judge noted that state law prohibits a city from charging anything for public records beyond actual duplication costs.
In summation, the judge concluded that the court could “scarcely conceive of works that are more appropriately protected by the fair use doctrine,” adding that Teixeira was engaged in “core First Amendment speech commenting on political affairs and matters of public concern.”
In San Diego, Patsy Fritz shared her reaction to the ruling.
“I was really pleased about the Court’s significant decision in the Inglewood case,” Fritz wrote in a post on the Ranter’s Roost land use issues forum.
Fritz stated that about six or seven years ago, “I have had the County TV staff warn me that County videos of the Board of Supervisors Meetings could NOT be excerpted or used because the County had the copyright to them.” Fritz says she thought that claim to be “insane” as tapes of a public hearing are “quintessential public records.”
San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Morgan Cook sent this response. “I just checked with the county press office, and it is untrue that the county doesn’t allow people to use or excerpt county videos of BOS meetings because the county has the copyright. think the county TV staffer who said this was mistaken.”
She added that members of the public can now safely use county vides to their “heart’s content” without concern for copyright claims.
Read more:
http://wavenewspapers.com/judge-rejects-inglewoods-copyright-lawsuit/
Comments
Inglewood Copyright case
We do have a link to the First Amendment Coalition on this case.
I cannot find a Washingotn Post story that's current, only an old one from June before the recent outcome. If you have links to current stories please share them. We also included a link above to a law firm's analysis of the case.