Justin Cormack wrote:
On 16 Nov 2005, at 03:21, Stephen Bain wrote:
On 11/16/05, Justin Cormack justin@specialbusservice.com wrote:
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...)
According to this page: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/about_us/bbmethodology.jsp the Hot 100 (for example) is compiled using formulas combining sales data and airplay data. I think that makes it more than a compilation of facts.
I suspect a weighted average of facts is still a fact. It is hard for them to argue as it is supposed to be an unbiased estimate of audience. What they might argue in court is a different matter.
The determination of weighting factors is a creative input and therefore copyrightable...