Plaintiff sought from Township, under FOIA, electronic copy of its real-property database in its native file format. Township declined to provide electronic copy, but directed Plaintiff to its website, where he could search for records by individual parcel. Plaintiff filed complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief. Township offered to provide all contents of its database excluding software, which Township claims is protected intellectual property. Court properly refused to strike affidavit of president of software vendor, averring that software and its data files in native file format are subject to copyright protection, and that license agreement prohibits Township from disclosing data in its native file format. Challenges to validity of trade-secret or copyright claims are not proper proceedings under FOIA. (McLAREN and ZENOFF, concurring.)
Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Freedom of Information Act