[Foundation-l] copyright question about data

Tue Apr 12 00:38:42 UTC 2005

Andre Engels wrote:

>On Apr 11, 2005 11:42 PM, Edward Peschko <esp5 at pge.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>What's the legal status of data retrieved from non-public domain sources?
>>
>>I understand that text that is retrieved from copyrighted materials is
>>copyrighted, but how about data and figures that deal with common interest
>>topics? Can you really copyright the amount of wheat grown in a year in
>>bangladesh, or the number of accidents in a year on california roads?
>>    
>>
>No, you cannot copyright the data itself. What is copyrighted is the
>*representation* of the data, while the *selection* of the data MIGHT
>be copyrighted.
>
This is a very important distinction.  The selection issue can be 
difficult, and is most applicable when you are using the same subset of 
data as someone else.  If you and the other person are providing 
complete data that is not a breech since there is only one way to have 
everything. :-)  Also an obvious form of representation of the material 
(such as alphabetical order) is not copyrightable.

>>And how about graphs? Is data that is extrapolated from graphs and
>>used in derivative graphs considered a 'creative work' of its own?
>>    
>>
>Yes, I would not see what 'creative work' in making the graph would be
>included in such data. The copyright on the graph is not on the data
>represented, but in the representation (e.g. the width-to-height
>ratio, the colours used, etcetera).
>
An easy way to avoid copyright infringement in this case is to use a 
different form of graph, such as replacing a bar graph with a pie chart.

>Note: I am not even close to being a lawyer
>
People say this all the time.  I prefer to treat lawyers in the same way 
as experts in other fields.

Ec