Re: Use of parts numbers and specifications of a competitor

From: Jerald Gnuschke <gnuschke[_at_]technopatents.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 10:06:37 -0600

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.
 

Steve,  

     Just a couple of quick points. Nothing in this message is to be construed as legal advice.  

1. If you're going to sell the disc in Europe, watch out for the European Database Directive. I believe that all EU countries had to implement it by January 8, 1998. It gives sui generis (literally 'of its own kind' but it looks like copyright on steroids to me) protection to databases. Obviously, you'll have to see if it applies in your situation. You also should check the laws of each EU country as some of them (Germany for example) have implemented the Directive with their own twists.
2. On the subject of part numbers: I vaguely remember reading a case where the copyrightability of part numbers (for auto parts?) depended on whether the manufacturer had a system for assigning the numbers or whether he assigned them at random. I'm not sure whether this was the holding or dicta but you should probably find and read this case.
3. On the subject of the compilation: For the US market, you need to evaluate the selection, coordination, and arrangment of the elements in the compilation. See Feist v. Rural Telephone. For the EU market, see #1 above.

Also, last time I checked the US Congress was considering whether to implement a version of the EU Database Directive in the US. I don't know what happened with that. Last I heard, the House was going to vote on it. Anybody know what happened to that bill?  

Nothing in this message is legal advice. You are in a very complex, unsettled area of the law. Please contact an attorney about your problem.

Best regards,

Jerald Gnuschke                        PGP key on request

Groover Bachand, 17000 Preston Road #230, Dallas TX 75248 phone 972-380-6333 x223, fax -4445,
gnuschke[_at_]technopatents.com
http://www.technopatents.com/ Received on Mon Nov 23 1998 - 16:06:27 GMT