[WikiEN-l] Copyright question

[Bryan Derksen]

Guy Chapman aka JzG wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:46:59 -0400, Anthony <wikilegal at inbox.org>
> wrote:
>>> Which is probably why nobody is suggesting it.  Under Fair Use, we can
>>> include short extracts for the purpose of critical review.
>>>
>> And that's exactly what was done in [[The Cool Wall]].
> 
> Bong!  Wrong answer.  The list was reproduced in its entirety.

That's an uncivil and overly categorical way of saying your opinion differs.

Calling the list "the entirety" of a copyrighted work is quite dubious.
The "cool wall" segment consists of more than just the list of cars, and
the "top gear" show consists of much more than just the "cool wall"
segment. As an analogous example, you didn't have a problem with
reproducing the entirety of the first page of several copyrighted works
on Wikipedia (those sheet music scans I mentioned earlier); it's
qualitatively different from reproducing the entire score.

At some point you get down to the individual atoms of creativity that
simply cannot be copyrighted themselves. A symphony can be copyrighted,
a single note cannot. A TV show about cars can be copyrighted, the name
of a single car cannot. Somewhere between these is a fuzzy gray dividing
line and I think most of the participants in this thread are in the camp
that simply listing the cars that have been on the Cool Wall is on the
safe side of that line.