Re: Non-disclosure agreem

> At 12:47 AM 4/7/94 -0400, Harry_s[_at_]holonet.net wrote:
> >Analytically, this case appears not so different from the situation
> >where I pay for publicly available information. If I go to Datasearch
> >and ask them to look up an incorporation in the Secretary of State's
> >files, and they charge me $50 for it, I could have done it myself.
>
> This is also the case for many searches on commercial providers which
> sell searches of PD information. However, most of those companies also
> have a contract that precludes you from reproducing and distributing the
> results of your searches.
>
> ---
> Glenn Tenney
> tenney[_at_]netcom.com Amateur radio: AA6ER
> (415) 574-3420 Fax: (415) 574-0546

We may be mixing things up here. Of course there is nothing wrong with paying somebody to do something, even if it is collecting information that is in the public domain. That is a fee for services. The more difficult question is a contractual agreement not to disclose public domain information. That I think is nonenforceable unless the information is subject to copyright. Recognizing that there are circumstances in which one can achieve a copyright in the compilation of public domain informtion, may explain the contract of commercial providers.

Harvey Perlman
University of Nebraska
<hperlman[_at_]unlinfo.unl.edu> Received on Fri Apr 08 1994 - 01:37:24 GMT