Re: letter to the mayor

On Thu, Oct 22, 1998, Steven Melamut <melamut[_at_]email.unc.edu> wrote:
>
> A student has asked me if mailing a letter to the mayor in the mayor's
> professional personna means that the letter becomes a public document
> and can be reproduced without her permission.
>
> I think that Salinger said that personnel corresponadance was clearly
> copyrighted by the author and could only be reproduced if it fell under
> the auspices of fair use.
>
> Let us say the letter concerned poor garbage collection. It seems to me
> that there is no problem with the mayor copying it and sending it on to
> the official in charge of that area. I do think it might be a problem if
> the mayor forwarded the letter to the local press.
>
> It would seem to be the same case if the letter concerned a neighbor
> dealing in drugs. The mayor might copy the letter to the police chief
> but not to the neighbor.
>
> I think any analysis must be done under the auspices of fair use. At no
> time do the letters become a public document. If a government employees
> correspondance remains their own property (Folsom), I don't see how a
> letter to an official could transform itself into a public document.
>
> Any comment?

Personal correspondence is considered unpublished work and thus enjoys the high level of copyright protection accorded to unpublished works. A letter written to a public official or government agency is, however, a special case, because public disclosure laws in most states (and the Freedom of Information Act federally) provide for the disclosure (and thus the availability for copying) of such correspondence (my understanding is that such letters DO beome public documents; but state disclosure laws vary as to what documents or portions of documents may be protected from disclosure).

Efforts to block reproduction of documents under state public disclosure laws by invoking copyright law have met with varying responses. See, e.g., Lindberg v. Kisap County, 133 Wash. 2d 729 (1997) (federal copyright law does not preempt Washington state disclosure law, and plaintiff's copying of copyrighted works under Public Disclosure Act was a fair use); Dade County v. Florida Power & Light (Dade Co. Circuit Ct., 1998) (Florida Public Records Act would be preempted by US Copyright Act, and photocopying of copyrighted public records would be prohibited).

In your case, my guess is that if the newspaper requested the letter under the relevant public disclosure law they could probably reprint it for news coverage purposes, though they might have to leave out names of specific persons, addresses, and other personally identifying matter; but it would not be fair use for the mayor to send it to the newspaper on his own accord without a public disclosure request. But as you can see from the cases above, this is definitely an issue open to question.

Bob Cumbow
Perkins Coie LLP
cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com
206-583-8566 Received on Fri Oct 23 1998 - 17:22:27 GMT