On 11/28/2012 8:10 PM, Jeff Meyer wrote:
Does anyone have any success stories of asking localities to open up
previously copyrighted data? I'm going down the "just ask nicely for
*really* open data" path here in Seattle, but have yet to hear back
from the authorities. It seems that having a list of other cities that
have opened up and shared data would be a good reference tool when
going to ask for looser restrictions. - Jeff
--
Jeff Meyer
Global World History Atlas
www.gwhat.org <http://www.gwhat.org>
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
206-676-2347
I have an unfriendly success story for opening up access to data and
removing any copyright assertions. Florida has strong open records laws.
Several years ago, a few property appraisers in FL were still both
charging outrageous fees for data (like $20k for a parcel shapefile) and
asserting copyright over the data. A small company in Orlando filed suit
against the Collier County Property Appraiser and won.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdecisions,_Inc._v._Skinner
After that case, the other appraisers who were not following state law
fell in line with the law. They can still charge a "reasonable fee", but
they cannot assert any copyright or license over the data.
As I understand it, when dealing with local governments, state law takes
precedence. It appears that Washington State has liberal open records
laws - after reading through this:
http://www.waurisa.org/conferences/2012/presentations/09%20Josh%20Greenberg%20Governments%20role%20in%20sharing%20spatial%20information.pdf
I saw on King County's GIS Data website they provide data for free
download but throw some legalese in front of it asserting some kind of
limited license, they own copyright, they can take away the license,
etc. I'm not a lawyer, but my hunch is the "license agreement" is
invalid, because state law takes precedence.
Brian
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