Source: http://copyright.lib.harvard.edu/states/mississippi/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 09:24:56+00:00

Document:
The Mississippi state code is in a public-access portal run by Lexis-Nexis, which does not allow direct linking. To access specific parts of the state code, go to the initial disclaimer page and search or navigate.
Several Mississippi attorney general opinions address the copyrightability of state documents or data. A 1991 opinion states that, "the State Highway Department may acquire and own copyrights on material which qualifies for copyright protection pursuant to federal law," but also contains the somewhat confusing statement that "we do not address the issue of whether maps and data compiled by the Highway Department which are in the public domain may be copyrighted under federal law." Miss. Op. Att'y Gen. (May 23, 1991). A 1994 opinion covers public records disclosure of information copyrighted by a third party, and indicates that a valid federal copyright prohibits copying under the public records law. Miss. Op Att'y Gen. No. 93-0975 (1994); see also Miss. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 95-0782 (1995). See the "Specifics and examples" section, below, for additional instances where the attorney general has provided guidance for specific government records. While none of these opinions address the government records broadly, they generally seem to assume that government documents may be copyrighted.
Mississippi has had a limited statutory right of access since 1930, see Miss. Code. Ann. § 9-5-169, however it was not broadly applicable until the passage of the current Public Records Law, Miss. Code Ann. § 25-61-1 et seq., in 1983.
The Mississippi Ethics Commission  has said that, "the commission rejects the assertion that all copyrighted materials in the possession of a public body are exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act." Miss. Ethics Commission Opinion No. R-12-003. As shown in the several Attorney General Opinions on the issue, however, this does not preclude restrictions on the subsequent use of disclosed copyrighted material.
The Mississippi code often describes records as either "property of the state" or "public property": Miss. Code. Ann. § 7-3-5 ("acts and resolutions of the legislature, maps, charts and other property of the state"); Miss. Code. Ann. § 45-3-47 ("All applications, birth certificates, transcripts and other records submitted by an applicant shall become the property of the state"); Miss. Code. Ann. § 25-59-19 ("All records created or received in the performance of public duty and paid for by public funds are deemed to be public property"); Miss. Code. Ann. § 7-11-6 ("the seal, all records, reports and other property of the state land office"). The code additionally provides for penalties for unauthorized destruction or removal of records. Miss. Code. Ann. § 25-59-23.
Mississippi Ethics Commission, Public Records Act, available at http://www.ethics.state.ms.us/ethics/ethics.nsf/webpage/A_records?OpenDocument.
Mississippi Library Commission, available at http://www.mlc.lib.ms.us/.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Open Government Guide: Access to Public Records and Meetings in Mississippi, available at http://www.rcfp.org/rcfp/orders/docs/ogg/MS.pdf.
Roberts v. Mississippi Republican Party State Exec. Comm., 465 So. 2d 1050 (Miss. 1985), available at http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4307650606369177052.
Miss. Code Ann. § 25-61-1 et seq.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 41-57-2.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 25-61-7.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 1-1-9.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 25-43-2.101.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 7-3-5.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 45-3-47.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 9-5-169.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 25-59-19.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 7-11-6.
Miss. Code. Ann. § 25-59-23.
Local Uniform Civil Rules of the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Mississippi and the Southern District of Mississippi, Rule 79(a), available at http://www.mssd.uscourts.gov/sites/mssd/files/2013MASTERCOPYCivil.pdf.
Miss. Op. Att'y Gen. (May 23, 1991), available at https://govt.westlaw.com/msag/Document/I0f9bffc1089611db91d9f7db97e2132f.
Miss. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 93-0975 (1994), available at https://govt.westlaw.com/msag/Document/Ib04076b1086711db91d9f7db97e2132f.
Miss. Op. Att'y Gen. (Apr. 3, 1992), available at https://govt.westlaw.com/msag/Document/Ie5c0534008ae11db91d9f7db97e2132f.
Miss. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 94-0643 (1994), available at https://govt.westlaw.com/msag/Document/Ia9d4ac701d2e11db8ebfade62ba3f9ed.
Miss. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 2008-00592 (2008), available at https://govt.westlaw.com/msag/Document/I00308c47ad8511dd93e8a76b30106ace.
Miss. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 95-0782 (1995), available at https://govt.westlaw.com/msag/Document/I47a466f1086411db91d9f7db97e2132f.
John Bender, Solid-Gold Photocopies: A Review of Fees for Copies of Public Records Established Under State Open Records Laws, 29 Urb. Law. 81, 121 (1997).
 This statutory provision supersedes the previous state law, governed by Roberts v. Miss. Rep. Party State Exec. Comm., 465 So. 2d 1050 (Miss. 1985), which refused to allow the commercial value of data to be recouped through fees in in a public records request. Id. at 1054. The previous status of the law, and similar issues more generally are discussed in John Bender, Solid-Gold Photocopies: A Review of Fees for Copies of Public Records Established Under State Open Records Laws, 29 Urb. Law. 81, 121 (1997).
 Miss. Code Ann. § 25-61-13 specifies that "[t]he Mississippi Ethics Commission shall have the authority to enforce the provisions of this chapter [the Public Records Law] upon a complaint filed by any person denied the right granted under Section 25-61-5 to inspect or copy public records."

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