Re: Re: Copyright of lists

You got the facts from somewhere. They are facts. Anyone can use them. You cannot in any way copyright the facts. Date codes and serial numbers are facts and are not copyrightable. (I know you said this -- I just wanted to reinforce it as the set up for what follows.)

A compilation of facts can sometimes have a copyright attach with the result that anyone who copies the exact list or redistributes it would violate the copyright. But, the owner of the copyright in the list cannot stop anyone from using the facts per se.

If the selection criteria for the list (what information is included) is original and has a modicum of creativity, then the list might get a thin copyright. But it would not be a very strong copyright since it is really only protecting the particular selection of facts, not each fact individually. If the selection criteria is driven by external requirements, then the originality or creativity aspects are reduced and may indeed be reduced to the vanishing point.

It would be very hard to protect the "format" of the publishing, unless it were itself very creative. Lists are lists. Numerical lists are arranged in obvious, non-creative ways, e.g., numerically. Date lists are arranged in obvious, non-creative ways, e.g., by date. And so on. So the copyright protection would likely not extend to the format.

Copyright protects only what is original and has a spark of creativity, no matter how modest. It does not protect the sweat-of- the-brow "equity" that goes into making the list.

So, it seems that you would not be likely to have much, if any, protection for your list.

Nonetheless, you may wish to consult a lawyer because there are some cases where courts have been convinced that some lists (like blue- book values of cars) are indeed protected by copyright. Some of us think those decisions are wrong, and even those who think they are right generally concede that they have very peculiar facts supporting the grant of copyright in them.

Steve

On Jan 17, 2007, at 5:55 PM, Mark Reinmiller wrote:

> I have been working on publishing a list of date codes based upon
> manufacturer's serial numbers. This would be useful to a certain
> industry and manufacturer's typically do not make this information
> public. I have decoded much of the information myself.
> From my reading of the recent posts, it appears that no matter how
> much effort I put into developing this information, the information
> is basically facts and therefore not copyrightable. The format I
> chose in publishing the information may be, but it appears that I
> would have little protection if someone else chose to publish the
> same information in a slightly different format. Is my take on this
> correct?
> Thanks,
> Mark Reinmiller
>

-- 
Prof. Steven D. Jamar                               vox:  202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                     fax:  202-806-8567
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