The WMF has lawyers. Why not ask Geoff for an official statement? Sven On Dec 12, 2012, at 8:27 AM, Harry Burt <jarry1250(a)gmail.com> wrote:

We have talked informally to some lawyers, some of them specialists in the relevant fields. Basically the understanding I was previously describing was confirmed, but more importantly there has been only a small number of cases testing out the implementation of the European database directive (and the ECJs cases were curtailing the scope of the sui generis protection, see British Horseracing Board v William Hill, Fixtures v Oy Vekkaus, and others). The US situation is much simpler, as there are no such database rights, and also the Feist v Rural case, which constraints rights on such data widely. But besides that, yes, we also have formally requested an assessment on the discussed topics (and a bit beyond) from lawyers, but this will take a while until we have the results. Once we have them we will share them. Cheers, Denny 2012/12/12 Sven <svenmanguard(a)gmail.com> -- Project director Wikidata Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Obentrautstr. 72 | 10963 Berlin Tel. +49-30-219 158 26-0 | http://wikimedia.de Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.

On 12/12/12 15:18, Denny Vrandečić wrote: > We have talked informally to some lawyers, some of them specialists in the >> relevant fields. Basically the understanding I was previously describing >> was confirmed, but more importantly there has been only a small number of >> cases testing out the implementation of the European database directive >> (and the ECJs cases were curtailing the scope of the sui generis >> protection, see British Horseracing Board v William Hill, Fixtures v Oy >> Vekkaus, and others). >> [...] >> But besides that, yes, we also have formally requested an assessment on >> the discussed topics (and a bit beyond) from lawyers, but this will take >> a while until we have the results. >> Once we have them we will share them. >That's very good to hear. Knowing that professionals have been consulted does help set my mind at rest. I look forward to reading their assessment in due course. Avenue