Ed Avis wrote: > Is anyone seriously suggesting that because factual information is > not covered by copyright, then in countries where no database right > is recognized, map data can be copied with impunity? > > If so, then it will be okay to start copying data from pre-1990s > Ordnance Survey maps?
No, because UK copyright legislation was amended as of the introduction of the EU Database Directive. The contention (and all of this can only ever be contention until there's sufficient case law) is that Ordnance Survey data was protected by copyright pre-DbD. "Prior to the implementation of the Database Directive it might have been argued that copyright subsisted in the geospatial data as a table or compilation within the meaning of the CDPA. However, in implementing the Directive changes were made to the CDPA which now provides that a literary work includes 'a table or compilation other than a database'." http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2304/1/databasesandlawfulusers.pdf The DbD does allow for "insubstantial" parts of the data to be taken without infringing. However, spread over a collaborative project such as OSM, a few people taking insubstantial parts could easily add up to a collective infringement. It is worth noting, of course, that the Ordnance Survey believes fervently that every single right possible subsists in their data: "copyright, patent, trade mark, design right, database rights, trade secrets, know how, rights of confidence, broadcast rights and all other similar rights anywhere in the world whether or not registered and including applications for registration of any of them" (from the OpenSpace Ts & Cs). I think I've even seen them claim "topographic right", which is fairly hilarious given that topographic right means semiconductor designs. But "what can you do" is never solely an academic question, because no matter how confident you are about your legal arguments, the OS _will_ try to sue you, and the OS is much richer than we are. If you're expressly talking about pre-1990s OS _maps_ there is also the question of whether tracing is copying (see my most recent blog post). > If it is the settled view of the OSM project, based on legal > advice, that copyright plus CC-BY-SA does not protect the > Openstreetmap geodata from being copied and incorporated > into other works, can an official statement be made to this > effect? It would save a lot of effort for people like People's > Map or Google, who would love to start copying the OSM data > if it weren't for the pesky share-alike restrictions. OSM appears to want sharealike, so why would it benefit OSM to issue such a statement? > I'm reading the Montgomery one now. Which do you mean by > Waelde's paper? http://edina.ac.uk/projects/grade/gradeDigitalRightsIssues.pdf >>For what it's worth, my interpretation at present is that a simple OSM >>map of a housing estate, such as http://osm.org/go/euwtbOAo-- , is not >>at all copyrightable in the US (the most liberal jurisdiction). It's a simple >>collection of facts - street names and geometries - arranged in an >>uncreative fashion, and Rural vs Feist tells us that this doesn't merit >>copyright. Therefore CC-BY-SA will not protect it. > Interesting. Do you mean only the map, or the underlying data too? The data. No-one is doubting that cartographic design is an artistic work (UK term) and therefore receives copyright protection. > From my experience of doing mapping, it seems there is a lot of > creativity and freedom, with many distinct ways to express the same > physical fact. Yes, this is entirely my point. A simple record of the streets in a housing estate doesn't involve this creativity or freedom: there is only one way, given a set database structure, to record it, so Rural vs Feist tells us that it doesn't attract protection in the US. A more intensively mapped area may do. > But you might be right, perhaps in the USA map data > can be freely copied. In which case the OSM project has already > achieved its aim (of free map data) kind of by default, and all that > remains is to view some areas in Google Maps and start copying in the > streets and other features. No, Google Maps Ts & Cs contractually forbid you from doing that. cheers Richard -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Privacy-and-Terms-tp24185975p24351975.html Sent from the OpenStreetMap - Legal Talk mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ legal-talk mailing list legal-talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/legal-talk
