Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly called the claim a "baseless attack by the Republicans" and "another desperate attempt to avoid focusing on the real issues that affect the American people." Lawyers for Pelosi and C-Span independently determined the video "is in the public domain and does not violate copyright law," Daly said.

The House and Senate floor footage "belongs to the American people," a C-Span spokeswoman said. "The content was produced using cameras owned by the government, not by C-Span. The video is not ours to claim a copyright on."

The RSC staffer that contacted C-Span "posed a very general question" about the network's IP protection policy and did not indicate that a press release was being issued, the spokeswoman said. "Had we known they were talking about House floor footage, we would have provided a more nuanced answer," she said.

A spokesman for RSC Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas would not discuss why the staff questioned the integrity of Pelosi's video or how it mistakenly concluded Pelosi was infringing. "Copyright and trademark law is very complex, [and] I'm not a lawyer," he said.