Re: US Supreme Ct "Feist" Decision

On Wed, 25 Oct 1995, Ron B. Thomson wrote:
>
> As a non-American, I am not familiar with the "Feist" decision
> concerning ancient/medieval texts published in print. I have now run
> up against a firm planning to use excerpts from our books. Can someone
> supply me with a date/reference for this decision, and any short
> analysis of its meaning and any limitations.

Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc., 499 U.S. 340 (1991), basically stands for the proposition that copyright is not available for works that are solely the work of industrious collection of data. The work in question in Feist was a "white pages" telephone book. The Supreme Court held that there was no originality on the part of the telephone book compiler, and therefore no copyright.

The decision may be found at
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/classics/499_340v.htm.

--
Terry Carroll       |            Go Cleveland Indians:
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