Microdecisions, Inc. v. Skinner

889 So. 2d 871, 2004 WL 2723533
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 1, 2004
Docket2D03-3346
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 889 So. 2d 871 (Microdecisions, Inc. v. Skinner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Microdecisions, Inc. v. Skinner, 889 So. 2d 871, 2004 WL 2723533 (Fla. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

889 So.2d 871 (2004)

MICRODECISIONS, INC., Appellant,
v.
Abe SKINNER, as Collier County Property Appraiser, Appellee.

No. 2D03-3346.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

December 1, 2004.
Rehearing Denied January 10, 2005.

*872 Jonathan D. Kaney, Jr., Jonathan D. Kaney, III, and Heather Bond Vargas of Cobb & Cole, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Gaylord A. Wood and J. Christopher Woolsey of Wood & Stuart, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for Appellee.

Andrew L. Deutsch of Piper Rudnick LLP, New York, New York; and Lonnie L. Simpson and Christian C. Burden of Piper Rudnick LLP, Tampa, for Amici Curiae Real Estate Information Professionals Association; National Public Records Research Association; First American Real Estate Solutions L.P.; Data Tree, LLC; and Data Trace, LLC.

Robert M. Dees of Milam & Howard, P.A., Jacksonville, for Amici Curiae First Amendment Foundation and the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors.

Lawrence P. Zolot, Hollywood; and Paul Bender, Christopher A. Mohr, and Michael R. Klipper of Meyer & Klipper, PLLC, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae LexisNexis; West; National Background Data, L.L.C.; The National Association of Professional Background Screeners; The Center for Information Policy Leadership; OpenOnline, L.L.C.; Public Record Retrieval Network; Choice Point, Inc.; Seisint, Inc.; and the Software & Information Industry Association.

NORTHCUTT, Judge.

The issue before us is whether a county property appraiser may require prospective commercial users of the records created in his office to first enter into a licensing agreement. We conclude that he may not. For this reason, we reverse the summary judgment in favor of Abe Skinner, the Collier County Property Appraiser, and remand with directions to enter judgment for Microdecisions, Inc.

The facts in this case are uncontested. Microdecisions compiles data concerning *873 real estate in south Florida, then sells this product on its website. Its customers can pay to retrieve plats, maps, and information about property values and mortgage encumbrances, among other things. With this purpose in mind, Microdecisions sought copies of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps that Skinner created in the course of his official duties. No one disputes that the GIS maps are public records,[1] but Skinner claimed they were copyrighted under federal law. He refused to permit Microdecisions' unfettered use of the maps unless it agreed to a licensing agreement that required a royalty payment if the maps were used commercially. Microdecisions filed a petition for writ of mandamus and a declaratory judgment action in circuit court, seeking to compel Skinner to provide the public records unencumbered by the licensing agreement. Skinner filed affirmative defenses, and eventually both parties moved for summary judgment.

We review a summary judgment de novo. Volusia County v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach, L.P., 760 So.2d 126, 130 (Fla.2000). The circuit court based its decision to grant Skinner's summary judgment motion on two of his affirmative defenses. The court's first ground was that Microdecisions' claim under Florida's public records laws was moot. Skinner maintained that after the lawsuit was filed, he sent Microdecisions a set of CD-ROM discs containing the maps. Thus, he argued, Microdecisions' claim was moot because the company had been given the public records. But the maps were transmitted with a letter that enclosed "a copy of the Personal Use License Agreement that does not permit commercial use of the data in any manner." The license agreement purported to bind the user if the discs were used. Microdecisions was unwilling to agree to the restriction.

A case is moot only "when the controversy has been so fully resolved that a judicial determination can have no actual effect." Montgomery v. Dep't of Health & Rehabilitative Servs., 468 So.2d 1014, 1016 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). Here, Microdecisions sought unconditional access to the public records, including the right to use the records in its business, but Skinner delivered the GIS maps on the condition that they were for personal use only. Therefore, the controversy concerning whether Skinner can validly impose this restriction on the use of the maps remained at issue. The circuit court erred as a matter of law in finding that the public records claim was moot. See WFTV, Inc. v. Robbins, 625 So.2d 941, 943 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (reversing the denial of a petition for writ of mandamus as moot when the issues presented were still live and the parties had a legally cognizable interest in the outcome).

The circuit court's second basis for the summary judgment was that the case involved a copyright issue that should be decided by a federal court. Skinner's affirmative defenses claimed that Microdecisions' *874 legal actions were actually an attempt to litigate his right to copyright the maps and that federal courts had exclusive jurisdiction over copyright actions under 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a). Early in the suit, Skinner filed a notice of removal to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, again contending that the federal court had exclusive jurisdiction. But that court remanded the case to state court. The order of remand pointed out that the presence or absence of federal question jurisdiction is governed by the "well-pleaded complaint" rule. See Rivet v. Regions Bank of La., 522 U.S. 470, 474-75, 118 S.Ct. 921, 139 L.Ed.2d 912 (1998). The district court noted:

The well-pleaded complaint in this case alleges that the documents are public records to which the Property Appraiser must allow access pursuant to Florida law, without further restriction. Nothing about the claims in the Complaint arise out of federal law in general or the Copyright Act in particular, and they do not satisfy the test articulated by the Eleventh Circuit. Sullivan v. Naturalis, Inc., 5 F.3d 1410, 1412 (11th Cir.1993).

Microdecisions, Inc. v. Skinner, No. 2:02-cv-639-FTM-29DNF (M.D.Fla. Feb. 5, 2003) (unpublished order). It concluded that Microdecisions' complaint did not state causes of action that arose under federal copyright law.

The federal court's well-reasoned order is supported by Florida law as well. The First District addressed similar facts in Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services v. Southpointe Pharmacy, 636 So.2d 1377 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). In that case, the pharmacy filed a petition for writ of mandamus seeking documents pursuant to Florida's public records law, section 119.07, Florida Statutes. As in this case, the complaint did not allege a cause of action under the federal copyright law, but the public entity defended on the ground that the documents were copyrighted. The Southpointe court held that under the federal well-pleaded complaint rule a copyright defense does not defeat state court jurisdiction. 636 So.2d at 1380. As such, the Florida state courts had jurisdiction over the matter.

This case, like Southpointe, arises under Florida's public records law, not under federal copyright law. Copyright is not an essential element of Microdecisions' claim. As such, as a matter of both federal and Florida law, the circuit court erred when it determined this controversy belonged in federal court.

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