State and Local Government Works May be Copyrighted

By Laura W. Smalley - While the Copyright Act provides that copyright protection is not available for any work of the United States Government, it does not contain a similar exclusion for the works of state or local governments...

Another FOIL Lesson: Be Mindful of Your Audience

By Patrick M. Malgieri - In a recent decision of the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court determined that records exchanged by a state agency with a federal agency were not entitled to an exemption from disclosure under the state’s Freedom of Information Law set out in Article 6 of the New York Public Officers Law...

Foiled FOIL Responses May Cost Public Entities $20,000 to $100,000

By Mitchell J. Pawluk - This past month, the Times Union newspaper announced an agreement for the City of Albany to pay the newspaper $70,000 in attorney’s fees relating to a request under the state’s Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”). The settlement comes after a recent decision...