On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 6:07 PM, Ron Savage<[email protected]> wrote: > However, in a module I'm about to release, I can't ship their database.
Shouldn't the data be Public Domain? For one thing it is merely a collection of facts. In the US a collection can be copyrighted to the extent that it includes some kind of creative expression. (Ex. the telephone White Pages can't be copyrighted. Too factual. Yellow Pages can because of the choice of categories, and assigning businesses to categories). A collection of all zip codes in the US seems to be equally embellished as white pages. Also, I thought in the US a government agency's published works are automatically PD. Zip codes originate from the US Postal Service. So, it seems like a private company compiled all the PD zip codes and calls it protected expression? AFAIK, the only thing that would be protected is the *format* they store it in. Such as a database. But, the raw data remains PD. That was my understanding a decade ago. Maybe something has changed. Mark ##### CGI::Application community mailing list ################ ## ## ## To unsubscribe, or change your message delivery options, ## ## visit: http://www.erlbaum.net/mailman/listinfo/cgiapp ## ## ## ## Web archive: http://www.erlbaum.net/pipermail/cgiapp/ ## ## Wiki: http://cgiapp.erlbaum.net/ ## ## ## ################################################################
