Microdecisions, Inc. v. Skinner, 889 So.2d 871 (Fla. 2d Dist. App. 2004), was a case before the Florida Second District Court of Appeal concerning whether the Collier County, Florida Property Appraiser could require prospective commercial users of the records created in his office to first enter into a licensing agreement. The court concluded that he may not. In the decision, the court held that "Skinner has no authority to assert copyright protection in the GIS maps, which are public records." In support of this, the court held that the "Florida public records law ... overrides a governmental agency's ability to claim a copyright in its work unless the legislature has expressly authorized a public records exemption." This was a Florida District Court of Appeal decision, but the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear the case and ordered the State (Skinner) to pay Microdecisions' attorney's fees for challenging the firm's use of the state's work. United States Supreme Court also declined to hear the case.
The case was cited as providing the main reasoning for the decision in County of Santa Clara v. California First Amendment Coalition by the 4th District of the California Courts of Appeal.
