Rich et al.
Copyright in "factual compilations" has been the subject of a number of cases, and continues to be so, since software like the latest version of Caere Omnipage can scan to pdf, and Adobe Capture can OCR a pdf, and Acrobat Catalog can index OCRed pdf files, etc. It is not trivial to do all the work that the Google colletion respresents, but it is not prohibitive in cost either (obviously in this case, but also in cases of enthusiastic amatuers, et al.)
Some cases hold that pure "facts" are not copyrightable, no matter how much the effort to gather them. However, other cases hold that the author may have a copyright in the selection, arrangement, and display of those facts, if more than simple alphabetical list of all available. In addition, the descriptions may well have enough "expression" beyond pure "facts" to be separately copyrightable.
On the other hand, within broad limits, one can normally presume that the owner of the catalog benefits from its reproduction and distribution, and can thus argue something along the lines of an "implied license." This argument fails miserably in light of almost any action by the owner to the contrary, but sometimes works if the owner has been silent or in fact has accepted benefits (in this case taken orders) that result from the allegedly infringing use.
Nonethelss, explicit permission is almost always safer. I use the analogy of the traffic speed limit. Every city I have ever been in has several roads where the average speed is well above the posted limit. In fact, driving the posted limit poses real dangers of rear-ending, etc. Nonetheless, the legal limit is the posted one, and people can and will sometimes be ticketed (and the ticket enforced, at some level) for going the average speed. In fact, the usual case is that you are ticketed non-rush hour, and ignored during rush hour, just the opposite of what safety might suggest. There are a number of highways in the Detroit area that work like this.
As always, your mileage may vary. If you want to do such a catalog, please consult competent copyright counsel about the specifics of the risks in your specific situation.
Roland J. Cole, Executive Director
SOFTWARE PATENT INSTITUTE
A Nonprofit Corporation
11 South Meridian Street, Suite 1313
INDIANAPOLIS IN 46204-3535
317-231-7799 fax 317-231-7433
cole@spi.org http://www.spi.org
Received on Thu Dec 20 2001 - 17:20:46 GMT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Mon Mar 26 2007 - 00:35:44 GMT