4 ms·
I'm not sure I follow that reasoning. In Feist even copying made-up entries designed to detect copying was deemed to not be an infringement. The statement tha
by scottdw2 15y ago
I'm not sure I follow that reasoning.
In Feist even copying made-up entries designed to detect copying was deemed to not be an infringement.
The statement that "this area is assigned to this timezone" is not a creative decision. It's an assertion of a fact. Even if it's a false fact made up by the author, it's still an assertion of a fact.
That information is not subject to copyright.
Perhaps the particular expression of the information is.... but I'm not sure how the tz database infringes on that.
Am I missing something?
- tedunangst 15y agoThe statement that "this area is assigned to this timezone" is not a creative decision. It's an assertion of a fact. Even if it's a false fact made up by the author, it's still an assertion of a fact. I think you are treading on thin ice with this reasoning. By the same token I might argue that "Harry said this to Ron and Ron said that to Harry" is an assertion of the fact that Harry and Ron had a conversation. What else is a novel except a collection of false facts made up by the author?
- scottdw2 15y agoIf you write a non fiction book that says "world war I was the cause of world war II" you are entitled to copyright protection for your expression. However, you don't earn a monopoly on the notion that WWI cause WWII even if you were the first to express that. Someone else can still write a book that conveys that fact. The "creative work" isn't the fact that country a is in time zone b. That's just data. A description of the process and the reasoning used to reach that conclusion, and an analysis of available facts is an expression. A map visualizing the data is an expression. A formatted chart is an expression. The connection between regions and timezones is just data. It's not protectable.