CAO 00-05CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
City Attorney's Office
Memorandum
Lawrence A. Levy, Esq.
City Manager
Date: June 5, 2000
From: Murray H. Dubbin, Esq. CMO~: 2-3/00
City Attorney CAO#: 00-05
Rhonda L. Montoya, Esq.
Senior Assistant City Attorney
Subject: DemandStar's Request to Use a City of Miami Beach Web Page in its Brochure
You have requested a legal opinion regarding the legalities of DemandStar's Request to use
one of the City of Miami Beach's web pages in its brochure.
While there is no clear legal impediment to such use, DemandStar would clearly need the
City's permission to use any City logo. In fact, §165.043 makes unauthorized use of a City seal a
second degree misdemeanor. A disclaimer as to the City's responsibility for any actions or
representations of DemandStar if the City' s web page is used would be appropriate. Whether the
City allows such use is a policy question. It was agreed by Mayra Diaz Buttacavoli's office that the
Procurement Director would make the decision on this matter.
As expected, case law in the Intemet area is very new and continues to develop. It appears
that there may be potemial legal problems when "framing" one site on another or hyperlinking to
another site, but there is no consensus at this time.
Please advise if there is a specific question with regard to this administrative decision or if
further clarification is needed from this office.
C:
Mayra Diaz Buttacavoli
Cms Lopez