Re: Web link copyright

On 5/6/99, Stanley M. Morris <smmorris[_at_]rmii.com> wrote:
>
> Are URL's subject to copyright? Specifically, may an alphabetical list
> of URL's incorpoated in a web page be subject to copyright? The pages
> in question appear to be similar to a telephone book or a city directory.
> I think not. Is there a case on point? Thanks.

I know of no case directly on point, but by analogy to such things as white pages, in the US, the collection of URL's would be copyrightable as a compilation if originality (editorial discretion) were involved in the selection and/or arrangement of the URL's.

So, for example, if it's a list of "all the URL's we could find," or "all the URL's beginning with the letter "B", or "all the URL's that we could find that pointed to dead links," it wouldn't be copyrightable. On the other hand, if it's a list of "URL's we think are pretty good," or "URL's ranked by how much we like the sites they point to," or "URL's we think everybody should know about," for example, there's no reason it wouldn't be.

-Ari

Ari Kahan
<akahan[_at_]netcom.com>