Alex R. wrote:
Police ledgers are not copyrightable, that is public information. Just like the news is not really copyrightable. That is why you can use pictures of famous people and famous events. Unless their is something particularly creative about the photo there is just a mechanical reproduction. Sort of like the copyright of an old painting.
I've never seen a ruling that "the news", in general, isn't copyrightable. It's certainly the case that if I were to start copying the NY Times' news stories and republishing them, even editing out the editorials and reporting "just the news", I would almost certainly be sued, and would, barring some change in the way the law is interpreted, most likely lose.
-Mark