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My understanding (as a non-lawyer) is that it depends on your jurisdiction. In the US, copyright normally only applies to works of creative expression, and not
by teraflop 13y ago
My understanding (as a non-lawyer) is that it depends on your jurisdiction. In the US, copyright normally only applies to works of creative expression, and not to facts or ideas. However, you can argue that the selection of facts that are compiled into a database involves creativity; in that case, the database as a whole may be protected, even though the individual facts aren't.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States#Compilations_of_facts_and_the_sweat_of_the_brow_doctrine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_Sta...
- icambron 13y agoIANAL, but since the database is just (presumably) all of the classes at Yale, it's hard to see how their selection could be copyrightable. I haven't used the app, but it's quite possible they have course descriptions in there too, though, which are copyrightable. But then there's the separate question of why Yale wants to do any of this.
- Crito 13y ago> But then there's the separate question of why Yale wants to do any of this. I suspect that providing easy/effective access to course and professor ratings trampled on some feet. Somebody's course enrollment is hurting and making somebody look bad.
- curiouscats 13y agoBut what are these people thinking? Do they really think Yale students are so lame they can't get around censorship easily to get the data they want? If the students are that lame they need to select better students, it seems to me.