This case presents the important question of whether federal courts or state courts may decide whether it is a fair use, under the Copyright Act, to request and obtain a copyrighted document under state open-records law. Put differently, does Congress's grant of exclusive federal jurisdiction over the Copyright Act, see 28 U.S.C. § 1338, prohibit a state court from deciding whether a copying pursuant to a state open records request is a "fair use," see 17 U.S.C. § 107, or prohibited copyright infringement?

Whether federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1338 to determine whether copying pursuant to a state open records request constitutes fair use under the Copyright Act, or whether state courts may also adjudicate fair use defenses to copyright infringement claims arising from state freedom of information requests