On 11/14/05, Brandon Cordy <b.touch(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, all. I'm a Wikipedia editor who uses the login
"FuriousFreddy". There
were some questions raised over the legality of the inclusion of data from
the American Billboard music charts, since the company that owns Billboard
(VNU Media) claims copyright and ownership of the chart information. I sent
them an email several weeks ago...and they finally got back to answering it.
What does this mean for the Wikipedia music articles which include Billboard
charts?
Absolutely nothing. The mere fact that album X reached position Y on
the Billboard charts is a raw fact and cannot be copyrighted.
Billboard, like so many other companies, likes to claim a broader
scope of intellectual property rights than they are entitled to.
Kelly