5 ms·
IANAL, but... To reuse copyrighted content, you have to consider fair use eligibility and such -- but fortunately, not all data is locked down by copyright. O
by schaaf 18y ago
IANAL, but...
To reuse copyrighted content, you have to consider fair use eligibility and such -- but fortunately, not all data is locked down by copyright.
One of my favorite ten USSC rulings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications_v._Rural_Telephone_Service http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications_v._Rural_Tel...
"""
It is a long-standing principle of United States copyright law that "information" is not copyrightable, O'Connor notes, but "collections" of information can be. Rural claimed a collection copyright in its directory. The court clarified that the intent of copyright law was not, as claimed by Rural and some lower courts, to reward the efforts of persons collecting information, but rather "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" (U.S. Const. 1.8.8), that is, to encourage creative expression.
Since facts are purely copied from the world around us, O'Connor concludes, "the sine qua non of copyright is originality". However, the standard for creativity is extremely low. It need not be novel, rather it only needs to possess a "spark" or "minimal degree" of creativity to be protected by copyright.
...
In the late 1990s, Congress attempted to pass laws which would protect collections of data, but these measures failed. By contrast, the European Union has a sui generis (specific to that type of work) intellectual property protection for collections of data."""
- xirium 18y agoIt is rumoured that some encyclopedias give biographies of ficticious people to enforce collective copyright. This wouldn't concern you if wanted information about a historical figure. However, it would be very problematic if you worked for a rival encyclopedia or wanted to make your own website of the encyclopedia.
- nertzy 18y agoDictionaries have long done the same thing with regard to definitions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_trap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_trap
- xirium 18y agoI didn't know that dictionaries also do it. Nor did I know that fake entries were also known as mountweazels (after the surname of a ficticious entry) or nihilartikels. How very cromulent ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromulent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromulent ).