the city paid for a court reporter to record transcripts of some hearings.
As a Work For Hire, copyright rests with the city, if at all. Either way, the individual reporter can't say bupkis about it. Just like if I commissioned a painting or hired a music group to write lyrics and set lyrics to an original melody, those works are mine to copy, distribute -- or destroy -- and the most I owe the original artist is credit for the creation, not copyright on the work. Work For Hire is the bane of the creative individual; for a non-creative but nonetheless skilled endeavour such as transcription, it provides occupation and income and obviously not royalties.
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Missing a point ...