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

[Steve Bennett]

On 4/2/07, Seth Finkelstein <sethf at sethf.com> wrote:
> "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."

The particular question was quite interesting from this point of view:
1) TV show randomly presents a different fact each episode
2) TV show never explicitly publishes the list of facts.
3) A third party collects them (mechanically) and publishes it.

Who owns copyright over that list? Is the list "objective", because it
was created by slavishly watching the episodes and simply noting the
random fact each time, or is it "subjective" because the items in it
were creatively invented by the show's producers?

It must depend on what "preexisting materials" means. I can't see that
the list would satisfy the rest of that definition of selection,
coordination etc.

Steve