Main Content

Alabama

The Alabama state code is in a website that does not encourage deep linking; individual sections of the code have no navigational links. Although we include direct links to sections of the code here, you may wish to navigate it from the top level, http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/codeofalabama/1975/coatoc.htm.

What is the law?

Binding, on-point law (about)

None

Advisory sources (about)

A 1998 Alabama Attorney General opinion, 251 Ala. Op. Att'y Gen. 35 (1998), indicated that a compilation of facts made by a state agency could be protected by copyright law, and that, if protected, the subsequent use of the records could be restricted by the state, but that it would still be subject to disclosure under the Alabama Public Records Law. Proprietary information owned by a third-party, on the other hand, need not be disclosed under the public records law. Ala. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 2001-137 (Mar. 30, 2001).

Public records law (about)

Alabama's Public Records Law, first enacted in 1923, begins with Ala. Code § 36-12-40. Prior to 1923, there was a common law right of access to public records dating to at least 1882. Brewer v. Watson, 71 Ala. 299, 46 Am. Rep. 318 (1882). See generally Harold L. Cross, The People's Right to Know: Legal Access to Public Records and Proceedings, 67 (1953); Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Open Government Guide: Access to Public Records and Meetings in Alabama.

Does the public records law restrict the use of disclosed records?

Under the Public Records Law, a requestor may be required to show a legitimate interest in a record in order to justify disclosure. Holcombe v. State ex rel. Chandler, 240 Ala. 590, 200 So. 739 (1941); Blankenship v. City of Hoover, 590 So. 2d 245, 250 (Ala. 1991). An intended commercial use of a record, however, is not a valid ground to deny a public records request. Walsh v. Barnes, 541 So. 2d 33, 35 (Ala. Civ. App. 1989).

Specifics and examples (about)

Status Applies to... Based on?
Copyrightable by statute "each volume of the pamphlet acts of the Legislature" and "each volume of the [Alabama state] code" [1] Ala. Code § 36-13-5
Copyright asserted by state agency "State of Alabama Law Enforcement agency's graphics, logos and any other intellectual and/or digital imagery" http://le.alabama.gov/copyright.aspx
Copyright asserted by city "all text, graphics, and other content" on the City of Prattville website http://www.prattvilleal.gov/default/copyright-notice.html
Copyright not available by statute "any product, process, idea, concept or procedure subject to protection under a copyright, patent or trade secret law, which was developed, invented or discovered through the utilization of [Alabama Supercomputer Authority] supercomputer and associated resources" Ala. Code § 41-10-398 (preventing the state authority and its employees from asserting copyright over material subject to a third-party copyright).

Additional things to consider (about)

The Alabama Library Association appointed an Alabama State Publications Task Force which examined the copyright status of Alabama government documents. Without stating definitively whether Alabama government documents are copyrighted, the Task Force concluded that most distribution of government documents under the public records law falls under the fair use provision of federal copyright law. The Task Force urged that, "Alabama state departments and agencies should be encouraged to make state information as freely available and as accessible as possible, with an additional emphasis, if necessary, that this is information which has been created at public expense, and taxpayers should not be burdened with paying twice for this information."

Alabama is one of the few states to restrict public records requests to their own citizens. The Alabama public records law allows "[e]very citizen" a right to inspect and copy public documents. Ala. Code § 36-12-40. A similar citizens-only provision in the Virginia public records law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in McBurney v. Young, 133 S. Ct. 1709, 185 L. Ed. 2d 758 (U.S. 2013). It is not clear from the language of the statute whether "citizens" refers to citizens of Alabama or citizens of the United States.

Twice in the Alabama code specific records are referred to as "property of the state": Ala. Code § 33-10-13; Ala. Code § 36-14-13.

Where else to go

Bibliography

Cases

Statutes

The Alabama state code is in a website that does not encourage deep linking; individual sections of the code have no navigational links. Although we include direct links to sections of the code here, you may wish to navigate it from the top level, http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/codeofalabama/1975/coatoc.htm.

Attorney General Opinions

Other

Footnotes