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IANAL, but I'm not actually sure datasets like these CAN be copyrighted. Copyright rewards "original creative expression", (Feist v. Rural Telephone Service) no

IANAL, but I'm not actually sure datasets like these CAN be copyrighted. Copyright rewards "original creative expression", (Feist v. Rural Telephone Service) not just effort, and I know things like phone books and other databases aren't protected by copyright. Generally, compilation protection is limited to things like charts and graphs, were the author has actually shown creative input into how the data is presented or displayed. EDIT: But just to be sure, I would recommend something is well understood and is aimed towards a general usage, such as a Creative Commons license of your choice http://creativecommons.org/choose/ http://creativecommons.org/choose/

nroach 12y ago
The leading case on this is Feist, a telephone book case. http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/499_US_340.htm http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/499_US_340.htm As an interesting note, the phone company had been introducing fake listings: "Four of these were fictitious listings that Rural had inserted into its directory to detect copying." For copyright, originality is a constitutional requirement and copyright cannot attach to a bare compilation of known facts. However, "if the compilation author clothes facts with an original collocation of words, he or she may be able to claim a copyright in this written expression." The court held that "the names, towns, and telephone numbers copied by Feist were not original to Rural and therefore were not protected by the copyright in Rural's combined white and yellow pages directory. As a constitutional matter, copyright protects only those constituent elements of a work that possess more than a de minimis quantum of creativity."
- thewopr 12y ago
  I wonder where the de minimis line gets drawn. I suppose it's like pornography, "I know it when I see it" kind of thing.

nroach 12y ago

The leading case on this is Feist, a telephone book case. http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/499_US_340.htm http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/499_US_340.htm As an interesting note, the phone company had been introducing fake listings: "Four of these were fictitious listings that Rural had inserted into its directory to detect copying." For copyright, originality is a constitutional requirement and copyright cannot attach to a bare compilation of known facts. However, "if the compilation author clothes facts with an original collocation of words, he or she may be able to claim a copyright in this written expression." The court held that "the names, towns, and telephone numbers copied by Feist were not original to Rural and therefore were not protected by the copyright in Rural's combined white and yellow pages directory. As a constitutional matter, copyright protects only those constituent elements of a work that possess more than a de minimis quantum of creativity."

thewopr 12y ago
I wonder where the de minimis line gets drawn. I suppose it's like pornography, "I know it when I see it" kind of thing.