[WikiEN-l] Copyright question

[The Cunctator]

I didn't know you were a copyright lawyer.

On 4/2/07, Guy Chapman aka JzG <guy.chapman at spamcop.net> wrote:
> On Mon, 2 Apr 2007 10:48:30 -0700, "Matthew Brown" <morven at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >In this case, the list of cars in the show was assembled from a
> >primary source using simple criteria: any car shown was listed.
>
> Um, no.  This is a classic case of "hard cases make bad law".  If the
> list is taken to have been presented as part of the content of the
> show, then it is almost certainly a copyright violation (I have
> contacted the rights holders to check, of course).  If, on the other
> hand, we argue that it is not a copyright violation because the list
> itself is not presented as part of the show's content, then the list
> in the article is a novel synthesis from original materials.
>
> It rather depends on whether you count a list which identifies the
> vehicles by photograph rather than text label, as being equivalent to
> the same list translated into text labels,
>
> Each week Clarkson and the Hamster stand up and invite the audience to
> help them decide whether the Ford Blah is cool or not; the decision
> made, it goes on the wall.
>
> The Top Gear criterion of "coolness" has been the basis of derivative
> works published by the BBC (e.g. Hammond's "What Not To Drive"), but
> the only way to get the list as text is either to watch every show and
> write them down, or to recognise the pictures.  Of course, I believe
> it doesn't actually matter which you do, because reproducing the list
> *in its entirety* is to a very /very/ high degree of probability a
> violation of the BBC's copyright.
>
> It's further complicated by the fact that the BBC don't appear to
> consider it important enough to put on their website.  So the one
> authoritative single source that might exist for the list as text, but
> which would at the same time unambiguously make it copyright, does not
> exist.
>
> I also apply the simple man's copyright test: if something you produce
> is based entirely on copying from another source which asserts
> copyright, it's probably copyright violation.  Needless to say, Top
> Gear has a copyright statement at the end of every broadcast.
>
> Guy (JzG)
> --
> http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JzG
>
>
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