Re: Database Protection Paper

Lynn Levine <lynnlevine[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
>
> As any producer of databases can tell you, we have always operated on
> the belief that these products were protected by legislation,
> specifically copyright legislation. However, since the Feist decision,
> a significant number of us are finding that trickle-down decisions have
> diluted copyright protection (which was specifically intended by
> Congress) of factual compilations (and I am not talking about telephone
> book white pages) to the point that such protections are virtually
> nonexistent. The database protection legislation we propose is simply
> a means of closing a widening gap in the law.

    Under Feist, the original arrangement, protection, and selection of your database is still protected. I'm unclear as to what else you claim should be protected. Certainly, not the raw facts collected-- you don't ask to be able to enjoin someone from using a fact you have collected, do you? We skeptics would appreciate an example of just what Feist leaves unprotected that you claim to own. Thanks!

    Cheers,     

    Paul J. Heald
    <heald[_at_]jd.lawsch.uga.edu> Received on Wed Oct 08 1997 - 12:42:35 GMT