Re: copyright for link directories?

On Tue, 18 Apr 2000, Robert S. Gurwin <bob[_at_]gurwin.net> wrote:
>
> 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.

This conflicts with my reading of Feist. The difference here is that in Feist, it was determined that there was no originality in either the selection OR the arrangement of names in a white page directory. In the instant situation, there may not be any in the arrangement, but may be/probably is in the selection of links to put in the directory. This of course is consistent with 17 USC 101 where a compilation is defined as:

  A ''compilation'' is a work formed by the collection and   assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected,   coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as   a whole constitutes an original work of authorship. The term   ''compilation'' includes collective works.

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Bruce E. Hayden                      bhayden[_at_]acm.org
Phoenix, Arizona                     bhayden[_at_]ieee.org
                                     bhayden[_at_]copatlaw.com