Columbine High School videos

A recent article in the Sunday editorial pages of the Denver Post concerned the apparent submission of two sets of video tapes concerning the Columbine High School shootings to the Federal District Court for determination of what to do with the tapes.

One set of tapes was made by the two (deceased) shooters. The editorial columnist opined that under Colorado intestate laws, the copyright in those tapes should probably go to the parents of the two boys (and potentially to their victims).

He brought up that if the boys had survived, the tapes would have probably been used as evidence in their trials, and thus become part of the public domain. I would think though that such a use would not truly impact the actual ownership of the copyrights, but rather whether there was some sort of public policy license granted (or fair use, etc.).

As for the surveillance videos from the school, he thought that since the schools (and video equipment, etc.) were paid for by public moneys, that that should put them in the public domain. However, I think that the better question is whether there is a copyright in the first place.

In my mind, there is no doubt that the videos by the two killers invariably contained sufficient original expression to be protected by copyright. However, I question whether surveillance videos contain sufficient original expression. After all, the typical stuff that we look for in films for that purpose is missing there. The taping presumably runs at least as long as the schools are open, and the location of the cameras is dictated by external factors such as ability to maximize what is seen by them.

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The preceding was not a legal opinion, and is not my employer's.
Original portions Copyright 2000 Bruce E. Hayden,all rights reserved
My work may be copied in whole or part, with proper attribution,
as long as the copying is not for commercial gain.


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Bruce E. Hayden                      bhayden[_at_]acm.org
Phoenix, Arizona                     bhayden[_at_]ieee.org
                                     bhayden[_at_]copatlaw.com