Source: http://copyright.lib.harvard.edu/states/ohio/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 09:23:16+00:00

Document:
A valid third party copyright can prevent disclosure under the Ohio Open Records Law. State ex rel. Gambill v. Opperman, 2013-Ohio-761, 135 Ohio St. 3d 298, 986 N.E.2d 93. But see, 1993 Ohio Op. Att'y Gen. No. 93-010 (May 14, 1993) (allowing disclosure of third-party house blueprints required to be submitted to local government, in spite of copyright interest). In several cases, the state has attempted to use copyright as a defense against public records disclosure, but the state supreme court has consistently refused to rule on the copyright claim. See State ex rel. Perrea v. Cincinnati Pub. Sch., 2009-Ohio-4762, 123 Ohio St. 3d 410, 416, 916 N.E.2d 1049, 1055; State ex rel. Carr v. Akron, 2006-Ohio-6714, 112 Ohio St. 3d 351, 359, 859 N.E.2d 948, 956. Another case, State ex rel. Rea v. Ohio Dep't of Edn., 1998-Ohio-334, 81 Ohio St. 3d 527, 532, 692 N.E.2d 596, 602, indicated that non-commercial uses requested under the Open Records Law are fair use for the purpose of federal copyright. Similarly, in an advisory document, the Ohio Attorney General advises that "[i]f a public record sought by a requester is copyrighted material that the public office does not possess the right to reproduce or copy via a copyright ownership or license, the public office is not typically authorized to make copies of this material under federal copyright law." This implies that federal copyright law supersedes public records requests in Ohio, although it does not directly address whether the state itself may hold copyrights.
A common law right of access to public records in Ohio dates back at least to 1901. Wells v. Lewis, 12 Ohio N.P. 170 (Superior Ct. of Cincinnati 1901 (summary) ("As public records are but the people's records, it would seem necessarily to follow that unless forbidden by a constitution or statute, the right of the people to examine their own records must remain.") The current Ohio Open Records Law may be found at Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 149.43.
In Ohio the "purpose in requesting to inspect and copy public records is irrelevant." State ex rel. Consumer News Services, Inc. v. Worthington City Board of Education, 776 N.E.2d 82, 90 (Ohio 2002). The provision of multiple copies to a requestor may, however, be made conditional on assurances that the records will not be used for commercial purposes. Ohio Rev. Code § 149.43(B)(7).
Ohio law says that "all records are the property of the public office concerned and shall not be removed, destroyed, mutilated, transferred, or otherwise damaged or disposed of." Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 149.351.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Open Government Guide: Access to Public Records and Meetings in Ohio, available at http://www.rcfp.org/rcfp/orders/docs/ogg/OH.pdf.
Ohio Attorney General, Ohio Sunshine Laws: An Open Government Resource Manual, available at http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/getattachment/bc3c1628-4278-46db-9a17-18b1152dad80/2014-Sunshine-Laws-Manual.aspx.
State Library of Ohio, available at http://library.ohio.gov/.
Ohio Historical Society, State Archives, available at http://www.ohiohistory.org/collections–archives/state-archives.
State ex rel. Gambill v. Opperman, 2013-Ohio-761, 135 Ohio St. 3d 298, 986 N.E.2d 931, available at https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14648730897136278035.
State ex rel. Perrea v. Cincinnati Pub. Sch., 2009-Ohio-4762, 123 Ohio St. 3d 410, 416, 916 N.E.2d 1049, 1055, available at https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8941935781496822260.
State ex rel. Carr v. Akron, 2006-Ohio-6714, 112 Ohio St. 3d 351, 359, 859 N.E.2d 948, 956, available at https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6109387269201093860.
State ex rel. Rea v. Ohio Dep't of Edn., 1998-Ohio-334, 81 Ohio St. 3d 527, 532, 692 N.E.2d 596, 602, available at https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/ROD/docs/pdf/0/1998/1998-Ohio-334.pdf.
Wells v. Lewis, 12 Ohio N.P. 170 (Superior Ct. of Cincinnati 1901), summarized at http://www.rcfp.org/ohio-open-government-guide/foreword.
State ex rel. Consumer News Services, Inc. v. Worthington City Board of Education, 776 N.E.2d 82, 90 (Ohio 2002), available at https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4630079285916632190.
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 149.43, available at http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/149.43v2.
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2503.23, available at http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2503.23.
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 149.17, available at http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/149.17.
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 1551.12, available at http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/1551.
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 149.351, available at http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/149.351.
1993 Ohio Op. Att'y Gen. No. 93-010 (May 14, 1993), available at http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/getattachment/fe920632-a02a-4a9c-a9b5-b21ab8a40862/1993-010.aspx.
Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, Copyright Notice, available at http://www.occ.ohio.gov/privacy.shtml.
 Judicial opinions cannot be copyrighted. The Supreme Court in Banks v. Manchester, 128 U.S. 244, 9 S. Ct. 36, 32 L. Ed. 425 (1888) invalidated an asserted copyright by a private publisher, an Ohio citizen, for copyright in the state court reports, holding that any content written by a judge cannot be copyrighted because "[t]he whole work done by the judges constitutes the authentic exposition and interpretation of the law, which, binding every citizen, is free for publication to all, whether it is a declaration of unwritten law, or an interpretation of a constitution or a statute." See also Nash v. Lathrop, 142 Mass. 29, 35, 6 N.E. 559, 560 (1886) and Wheaton v. Peters, 33 U.S. 591, 668, 8 L. Ed. 1055 (1834). Only materials ancillary to the court opinion such as the "title-page, table of cases, head notes, statements of facts, arguments of counsel, and index" may be copyrighted. Callaghan v. Myers, 128 U.S. 617, 649, 9 S. Ct. 177, 185, 32 L. Ed. 547 (1888). Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2503.23 must, therefore, only apply to the materials added to the reports by the reporter or publisher, and not to the judicial decisions themselves.

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