[WikiEN-l] Copyright question ("compilation copyright")

[Seth Finkelstein]

> How *on earth* do you get this as being a violation of copyright?
> The BBC don't own facts about the show.

	Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. However, for certain reasons,
this particular subtopic of copyright is, err, very dear to my heart,
and I will immodestly boast of having argued down at least one
mistaken lawyer over it.

	Under US law, the keywords you would want to understand
are called "compilation copyright".

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html

"A "compilation" is a work formed by the collection and assembling
of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or
arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes
an original work of authorship."

	And actually, "facts about the show" CAN be owned!

http://www.rcfp.org/news/1998/0824i.html

"SECOND CIRCUIT--A trivia quiz book testing readers' knowledge and
recollection of lines from the 'Seinfeld' television show does not
qualify as a "fair use" and as such constitutes copyright infringement ..."

	In general, you really, really, don't want to try to get
useful answers to questions of copyright law by throwing them out
to a mailing list and debating them from intuition.

-- 
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  http://sethf.com/
Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
Interview: http://sethf.com/essays/major/greplaw-interview.php