January 5, 2011

Ms. Clarissa Rodriguez

Denton, Navarro, Rocha & Bernal

2517 North Main Avenue

San Antonio, Texas 78212

OR2011-00246

Dear Ms. Rodriguez:

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# 404968.

The City of Live Oak (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for documents related to a specified property. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure pursuant to federal copyright law. ⁽¹⁾ You also state that release of the submitted information may implicate the proprietary interests of Geotek, Inc. Accordingly, you state, and provide documentation showing, you notified Geotek, Inc. of the request for information and of its right to submit arguments to this office as to why the submitted information should not be released. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d); see also Open Records Decision No. 542 (1990) (statutory predecessor to section 552.305 permits governmental body to rely on interested third party to raise and explain applicability of exception in the Act in certain circumstances). We have considered your arguments and reviewed the submitted information.

We note 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 of the Government Code to submit its reasons, if any, as to why information relating to the third 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 Geotek, Inc. Thus, because this third party has not demonstrated that any of the requested information is proprietary for the purposes of the Act, the city may not withhold any of the submitted information on the basis of any proprietary interest Geotek, Inc. may have in the information. See id. § 552.110(a)-(b); Open Records Decision Nos. 552 at 5 (1990), 661 at 5-6 (1999).

Although you argue the submitted information is excepted from disclosure pursuant to federal copyright law, we note copyright law does not make information confidential. See Open Records Decision No. 660 at 5 (1990). A custodian of public records must comply with the copyright law and is not required to furnish copies of records that are copyrighted. Open Records Decision No. 180 at 3 (1978). A governmental body must allow inspection of copyrighted materials unless an exception applies to the information. Id.; see Open Records Decision No. 109 (1975). 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. Accordingly, because no exceptions to disclosure have been raised, the submitted information must be released to the requestor, but any information protected by copyright must be released in accordance with copyright law.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Andrea L. Caldwell

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ALC/vb

Ref: ID# 404968

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Although you raise section 552.022 of the Government Code, we note that section 552.022 is not an exception to disclosure. Rather, section 552.022 enumerates categories of information that are not excepted from disclosure unless they are expressly confidential under other law. See Gov't Code § 552.022.

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