[WikiEN-l] Fwd: FW: Billboard chart data licensing

[Justin Cormack]

On 16 Nov 2005, at 02:33, Stephen Bain wrote:
>
> IANAL and all that, but as long as we are not replicating chunks of
> the chart verbatim, merely stating that so-and-so song reached X
> position on the chart, then there won't be any problems. We're not
> possibly infringing any copyrights by simply stating what they ranked
> the song as. However, if we had an article which listed the top forty
> for a particular week, or something, that would not be ok.

In US law it probably is ok to copy the whole thing verbatim, as
compilations of facts (eg telephone directories) are not protected
by copyright law. Charts might be different (we all know there is
some creativity in their compilation...) but the question is
whether it is worth defending with real money in court. One can
presume that Jimbo's position is based on a legal consultation
and reflects what the lawyers think it is worth defending, though
if anyone thinks it is worth having the lists it is defensible I
believe, despite Bilboard's claims. (I dont think it is worth
having them).

Justinc