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Public domain
This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, and municipal government agencies) of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright and is therefore in the public domain in the United States.
Definition of "public record"
Public records are works "made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee of the state, or persons acting on their behalf, [which includes the work of] the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government and each agency or department created thereunder; counties, municipalities, and districts; and each constitutional officer, board, and commission, or entity created pursuant to [Florida] law or [its] Constitution" (Florida Constitution, §24) such as a work made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any state, county, district, or other unit of government created or established by law of the State of Florida (definition of public work found in Chapter 119.011(12), Florida Statutes).
Agencies permitted to claim copyright
Florida's Constitution and its statutes do not permit any agency to claim copyright for "public records" unless authorized to do so by law. The following agencies are permitted to claim copyright (as well as trademarks) and any works of these agencies should be assumed to be copyrighted without clear evidence to the contrary:
Works by defunct state agencies may be copyrighted if these rights were transferred to a new or different agency (note that legislation transferring such right may not have been codified into Florida Statutes). For example, copyright in works by the Florida Space Authority may have been transferred to Space Florida. State and municipal government agencies may claim copyright for software created by the agency (§ 119.084, F.S. 2018).
In case law, Microdecisions, Inc. v. Skinner—889 So. 2d 871 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (Findlaw)—held that the Collier County Property Appraiser could not require commercial users to enter into a licensing agreement, holding that "[the agency] has no authority to assert copyright protection in the GIS maps, which are public records."
Note: Works that are considered "public records" but were not created by a state or municipal government agency may be copyrighted by their author; the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents state law from overriding the author's right to copyright protection that is granted by federal law. For example, a state agency may post images online of the final appearance of a building under construction; while the images may be "public records", their creator (eg. architecture/construction firm) retains copyright rights to the image unless the contract with the agency says otherwise. See: Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual: To what extent does federal law preempt state law regarding public inspection of records?.
Disclaimer: The information provided, especially the list of agencies permitted to claim copyright, may not be complete. Wikimedia Commons makes no guarantee of the adequacy or validity of this information in this template (see disclaimer).
Florida seal
Other versions
This flag image could be re-created using vector graphics as an SVG file. This has several advantages; see Commons:Media for cleanup for more information. If an SVG form of this image is available, please upload it and afterwards replace this template with {{vector version available|new image name}}.
It is recommended to name the SVG file “Flag of Panama City Beach, Florida.svg”—then the template Vector version available (or Vva) does not need the new image name parameter.
This flag image was uploaded in the JPEG format even though it consists of non-photographic data. This information could be stored more efficiently or accurately in the PNG or SVG format. If possible, please upload a PNG or SVG version of this image without compression artifacts, derived from a non-JPEG source (or with existing artifacts removed). After doing so, please tag the JPEG version with {{Superseded|NewImage.ext}} and remove this tag. This tag should not be applied to photographs or scans. If this image is a diagram or other image suitable for vectorisation, please tag this image with {{Convert to SVG}} instead of {{BadJPEG}}. If not suitable for vectorisation, use {{Convert to PNG}}. For more information, see {{BadJPEG}}.
Original upload log
The original description page was here. All following user names refer to en.wikipedia.
