Re: Use of parts numbers and specifications of a competitor

On 11/19/98, Steve Timmer <stimmer[_at_]planetlawyers.com> wrote:
>
> An industrial company ("Company A") wants to produce a compact disc
> that provides comparative information about its products and that
> of other producers in the industry. The disc will provide a search
> program that will allow a user to cross-reference of these products
> for compatibility and substitution. No price information for any
> producer's products will be included.
>
> Company A will supply information about its own products, product
> numbers and specifications from its own data sources. It proposes to
> obtain the information about competitors products from a variety of
> sources, including written materials, e.g., catalogs, from the
> competitors themselves.
>
> To borrow an antitrust term, this activity seems to promote "interbrand
> competition" and ought to be allowed. On the other hand, is there
> enough authorship in the compilation of product data to prevent the use
> of the competitors' data? This seems to me to be similar to some of the
> other "thin" copyright cases. The CD will not present the data in the
> same way as any competitor's catalog or product sheet; Company A is
> really interested in the data, not the expression.

See the Eighth Circuit Toro opinion.

Sheldon W. Halpern
The Ohio State University College of Law <shalpern[_at_]pop.service.ohio-state.edu> Received on Mon Nov 23 1998 - 12:18:23 GMT