- Client operates an online music site where you can browse songs, add tracks to your play list, and get suggestions for songs you might be interested in. Copyright permissions are obtained. Client proposes to have a bot "scrape" play lists from other music websites (these are all over the web). They would not be published or distributed in any way, but would merely go into a database that would be used to analyze affinities or likely interests of listeners. Then when you go to the site you will get suggestions on music that might be of interest to you, much like amazon does with books. The question is, does anybody think these play lists enjoy any copyright protection. I conclude that they do not. No matter how creative the selection process may be, the expression is just an an alphabetical list and therefore covered by Feist v. Rural Communications (holding the white pages of telephone book not subject to copyright protection and rejecting the "sweat of the brow" theory of protection).
Any thoughts, cases etc, relevant to this issue.?
I am aware that my client may need to be concerned about website terms and conditions, which sometimes impose restrictions beyond what is protected by copyrights.
Received on Thu Mar 31 2005 - 03:55:47 GMT