I can't think of cases off-hand, but I can certainly think of examples
where "selection" is more than a mechanical process.
Suppose, for example, I compile a restaurant guide for a town and decide to include only those restaurants that are, in my opinion, any good. That "selection" would, I think, justify copyright protection, whereas a selection of vegetarian restaurants or restaurants opening late might not.
-- Edward Barrow Copyright Consultant edward[_at_]copyweb.co.uk ***Important: see http://www.copyweb.co.uk/space/email for important information about the legal status of this email Webb, Jere wrote:Received on Wed Jan 17 2007 - 03:55:00 GMT
> I have always thought the "selection" part of "selection and
> arrangement" is a very interesting and troubling concept In the Feist
> case (which surprised most copyright lawyers by holding that the white
> pages of the phone book are not protectable), it didn't matter how much
> sweat of the brow the publisher put into "selecting" only real living
> individuals for the book. Take this example: you decide to publish a
> list of everyone in a city that has green hair. Many hours are made
> implementing this selection. Copyright protection? I don't think so.
> No creativity in the selection, although there might have been a lot of
> creativity in implementing the selection. I had a case once where
> someone copied verbatim several hundred pages of my clients government
> application for a license and filed it as a competing application. The
> application consisted mainly of maps that had been prepared from
> government (i.e. public domain) maps "selecting" certain features
> relevant to the license application. Copyright protection? I decided
> this was a close call and found the cases confusing. Another example:
> what if through sheer creative genius someone comes up with an algorithm
> to select from a database list a certain subset of data of interest to
> some particular group or industry. The result is then presented as an
> alphabetical list? Copyright protection? I'm not sure. What if I go
> thru my college yearbook and "select" everyone in my class by use of my
> amazing powers of recognition and then publish them in an alphetical
> list. Copyright protection? I don't think so. So what would be a
> protectible "selection" that results in an alphabetized list being
> protectible? I cant think of an example. Can anyone cite a relevant
> case? What if I come up with an incredibly creative parts numbering
> system for parts and I create a list of the parts by their numbers
> assigned? Protectible? No according to one court which observed that
> "clasifications schemes can in principle be creative enough to satisfy
> the creativity requirement for copyright protection" but that in the
> case before the court "all creative aspects of the classification are
> just that: ideas". The court said that the merger doctrine and the
> originality doctrine kill copyright protection for this sort of thing
> because "For almost all types of creativity claimed [by the plaintiff}
> there is only one reasonable way to expess the underlying idea". This
> latter point would doom many if not most creative selection cases.
>
> Jere
>
> Jere M. Webb
> Stoel Rives LLP
> Standard Insurance Building
> 900 SW Fifth Ave., Suite 2600
> Portland, OR 97204
>
> Phone: 503-294-9460
> Fax: 503-220-2480
> Email: jmwebb[_at_]stoel.com
>
> Secretary: Nancy Campbell
> Phone: 503-294-9316
> Email: nacampbell[_at_]stoel.com
>
> www.stoel.com
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property
> [mailto:CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org] On Behalf Of jfnbl[_at_]earthlink.com
> Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 03:50 PM
> To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property
> Subject: [CNI-(C)] Re: Copyright of lists
>
> IBD is entitled to "very thin" copyright protection for the selection
> and arrangement of its list of industry groups. In this case, the
> arrangement -- alphabetical -- is unoriginal, almost unavoidable, and
> undoubtedly unprotectible. The selection is another matter. The range
> of available choices for a taxonomy of industry groups is vast if not
> limitless. You say that "some of [your] names are similar but not the
> same," and "in a few cases [your] names and their names are the
> same." To the extent your example is representative -- 3 of 4
> identical, and the fourth a slight variation -- you are close to the
> virtually identical reproduction (right down to the use of a matching
> abbreviation, Bldg) that would be required to establish infringement
> of IBD's very thin copyright. You won't find it in the statute or the
> caselaw, but in the real world this kind of subjective judgment is
> often based on unstated equitable considerations. It strikes me that
> it would be impossible to have arrived at your taxonomy without
> having copied theirs -- for commercial advantage, with strategic
> alterations to avoid a charge of slavish copying. In other words, one
> gets the sense that you are trading on the good will associated with
> their industry group listing. If you are selling subscriptions to a
> service that substitutes for theirs at half the price, it calls to
> mind the knock-offs of Gucci purses sold by street vendors. No
> offense intended. Maybe your product is superior. But it smells like
> a knock-off. The "right" legal claim would be unfair competition,
> except that the Copyright Act probably preempts the unfair
> competition claim. If the Copyright Act's preemption provision
> deprives IBD of what would otherwise be a good state law claim, then
> the court is going to be inclined to find a remedy in the Copyright
> Act.
>
> Disclaimer: I'm not your lawyer, and you need one.
>
> John Noble
>
> At 4:05 PM -0500 9/1/07, HGS wrote:
>> My question is about copyright law regarding a list of titles. >> >> I am a small business owner. I use a list of industry group titles in
> my
>> business to classify stock market companies. The name of my industry
> group
>> list is "Industry Monitors 200". The name is not trademarked or >> copyrighted. Here is a partial example of my list: >> >> Industry Monitors 200 >> Banking-Foreign >> Banking-Midwest >> Banking-West >> Bldg-Hand Tools >> >> My Industry Monitors list has a total of 192 titles. >> >> Another company William O'Neil + Co. 197 Industry Groups (tm) also has
> a
>> list that they call the IBD 197 Industry Groups. IBD is "Investor's
> Business
>> Daily" a very large newspaper for investors. >> >> Here is a partial example of their list: >> >> IBD 197 Industry Groups >> Banks-Foreign >> Banks-Midwest >> Banks-West/Southwest >> Bldg-Hand Tools >> >> Some of my names are similar but not the same. In a few cases my names
> and
>> their names are the same. They have 197 industry groups, I have 192 >> industry groups. >> >> Is each name in their list copyrighted such that if I have the exact
> same
>> name in my list I will be violating their copyright? Does a list that
> looks
>> similar come under copyright protection? >> >> They have recently contacted me with this statement: >> >> The "HGSI Industry Group" list impermissibly copies from IBD's
> copyrighted
>> industry group list and violates IBD copyright" (HGSI is the acronym
> used
>> for my product and website HighGrowthStock Investor) >> >> Thank you for any assistance. >> >> Regards, >> George Roberts >> >> >> >> >> >> ############################################################# >> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to >> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>. >> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org> >> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org> >> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org> >> To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org> >> To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to >> <CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org> >> Send administrative queries to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org> >> >> Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at >> <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
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