Christopher Priest writes: > Would it be a breach of copyright to refer to the o'reilly online books in a > searchable database such as the LDP? Would that be a case of all rights > reserved?
debian-legal generally handles questions that pertain to the Debian project and its current or proposed activities. Is this question related to something Debian does or might do in the future? If so, we would need details on what you mean by "refer to" before making clear comments. Broadly speaking, referring to a work is not something that is protected by copyright law. Several courts have ruled that some kinds of "deep linking" to a part of someone's web site constitutes copyright infringement. Other courts have ruled that some forms of linking are not protected by copyright law. The rules are not uniformly settled, either within the USA or internationally. Note also that debian-legal cannot provide legal advice. If you want a reliable answer about whether some activity breaches copyright, ask either the copyright holder(s) or a lawyer whom you have retained. Michael Poole
