[Foundation-l] copyright question about data

Tue Apr 12 08:09:49 UTC 2005

Edward Peschko wrote:

>On Mon, Apr 11, 2005 at 05:38:42PM -0700, Ray Saintonge wrote:
>  
>
>>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.
>>    
>>
>How about augmented data? Ie: say someone has a set of data that you'd like
>to keep in its entirety, but you add some features that text cannot possibly
>have (like, say links to supporting papers for important datapoints, 
>or zoom-in on graphs). Is that considered copyright infringement?
>  
>
Augmenting data helps to establish the fact that you are not limiting 
yourself to the original author's selection process..  In many of these 
cases determining whether there has been a breech of copyright will 
never be a black and white situation.  We really are looking at a 
balance of probabilities.

Ec