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I think this is a very grey area. If it's on the internet it's scrapable. Does that mean you can use it? You really need a lawyer. Take for example Amazon revi
by dazzawazza 18y ago
I think this is a very grey area. If it's on the internet it's scrapable. Does that mean you can use it? You really need a lawyer.
Take for example Amazon reviews. They are there to be scraped but some of them are not available via the web service API due to copyright restrictions. That's a clear sign to me that they don't wouldn't want this information scraped. I'm not sure how a judge would see it though.
Another example is is licensed material. Take TV listings. They are listed all over the place but they are still under copyright so you can't just scrape them and use them on your site.
IANAL but my basic rule is that I scrape if I think I am going to offer the scraped sight something in return (usually traffic). So if it's mutually beneficial I feel OK. That doesn't mean it's legal though :(
- 0x44 18y agoOnly the layout of the TV listing information is copyrighted. You can't copyright facts.
- dazzawazza 18y agoThis seems reasonable. However I seem to remember that the actual listings in the UK are 'owned' by some central authority (I forget who but it's got something to do with the Radio Times) and you license the right to publish them. While it's a fact that a show is on it's also content owned by some authority. This is where lawyers make their money.
- 0x44 18y agoMy apologies, the copyright laws of the UK are quite different than those of the US. I don't know whether or not facts can be copyrighted there.