Re: copyright for link directories?

On Mon, Apr 17, 2000, Stefan Bauschard <bauscsa4[_at_]wfu.edu> wrote:
>
> I'm curious as to whether or not there are any cases dealing with
> copying of LINK DIRECTORIES. Or, is there any relevant law that
> might stop someone from copying en mass say a directory of global
> newspapers and republishing it on a different site? Are there
> any guidelines so to speak for determining when and if a directory
> was copied?

Providing that the directories were of U.S. origin and contained solely the list of site names and the respective URLs, I would rely on Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service, 499 U.S. 340, 111 S. Ct. 1282, 113 L. Ed. 2d 358 (1991) which held that a telephone white page directory simply printed factual data and was not protected by copyright. Unless the link directory provided some type of additional creative content or arrangement, a pure listing of sites and addresses would, in my opinion, be no different from the white pages listing in Feist.

However, if the original source was in a country other than the U.S., there may be other protection outside of copyright law since many foreign nations have adopted laws which specifically offer protection of databases.

I hope that provides some help.

Robert S. Gurwin
Attorney At Law
<bob[_at_]gurwin.net> Received on Tue Apr 18 2000 - 14:40:29 GMT