3 ms·

I was under the impression that you couldn't copyright tables of data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._Rural_Telephone_Service_Co ht

• jrockway 6y ago
  Terms of Service and copyright are two different things. Maybe the data's not copyrightable, but they can make their website terms of service say "by using our website and downloading this data, you agree to..." You would have to research the case law to see if courts will enforce this. Anyone can say anything they want.
• lmkg 6y ago
  You cannot copyright facts, but you can copyright arrangements of facts, as long as the arrangement has a modicum of creativity. The litmus test for this is literally the telephone book. The White Pages cannot be copyrighted (the court case you linked). But, the Yellow Pages can be copyrighted. The White Pages are nothing more than an alphabetic listing of phone numbers, but the Yellow Pages groups phone numbers by business type. This involves some editorial discretion, which involves a bare minimum of thinking, and therefore qualifies as a creative work.