 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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March 27, 2007 Mr. Ricardo Lopez OR2007-03369 Dear Mr. Lopez: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 274792. The North East Independent School District (the "district"), which you represent, received a request for "bid responses to RFP#38-07." You state that responsive information of the requestor's company has been released to the requestor. You take no position with respect to the public availability of the remaining requested information. You believe, however, that this information may implicate the interests of interested third parties. You therefore notified the third parties of this request for information and of their right to submit arguments to this office as to why the information at issue should not be released. (1) We have reviewed the submitted information. An interested third party is allowed ten business days from the date of its receipt of the governmental body's notice under section 552.305 to submit its reasons, if any, as to why information relating to that party should not be released. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d)(2)(B). As of the date of this decision, this office has received no correspondence from any of the interested third parties. Therefore, there has been no demonstration that any of the submitted information is confidential or proprietary for the purposes of the Act. See Gov't Code §§ 552.101, .110(a)-(b); Open Records Decision Nos. 552 at 5 (1990), 661 at 5-6 (1999). We note, however, that some of the materials at issue may be protected by copyright. A custodian of public records must comply with the copyright law and is not required to furnish copies of records that are copyrighted. Attorney General Opinion JM-672 (1987). A governmental body must allow inspection of copyrighted materials unless an exception applies to the information. Id. If a member of the public wishes to make copies of copyrighted materials, the person must do so unassisted by the governmental body. In making copies, the member of the public assumes the duty of compliance with the copyright law and the risk of a copyright infringement suit. See Open Records Decision No. 550 (1990). Therefore, the district must release the information at issue; however, in releasing any information that is protected by copyright, the district must comply with copyright law. This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a). If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, upon receiving this ruling, the governmental body will either release the public records promptly pursuant to section 552.221(a) of the Government Code or file a lawsuit challenging this ruling pursuant to section 552.324 of the Government Code. If the governmental body fails to do one of these things, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e). If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Dep't of Pub. Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408, 411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ). Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497. If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling. Sincerely, Cindy Nettles Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division CN/eb Ref: ID# 274792 Enc. Submitted documents c: Ms. Dolly Holmes General Manager/Vice President Time Warner Telecom 70 North East Loop 410, Suite 900 San Antonio, Texas 78216 (w/o enclosures) Mr. Dan Wingo Senior Account Executive Verizon Business 701 Brazos, Suite 600 Austin, Texas 78701 (w/o enclosures) Ms. Katy J. Swanson Senior Account Manager AT&T 1010 North St. Mary's, Room 843 San Antonio, Texas 78215 (w/o enclosures)
1. The third parties notified by the district are the following: Verizon Business and AT&T. See Gov't
Code § 552.305(d); Open Records Decision No. 542 (1990) (statutory predecessor to section 552.305 permitted
governmental body to rely on interested third party to raise and explain applicability of exception to disclosure
under certain circumstances). POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |