[Foundation-l] Copyrighted maps and Derived works from copyrighted sources.

[Kwan Ting Chan]

jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com wrote:
> Guys,
> Lets get back to one point : terms of service.
> 
> We are talking about copyright here the whole time, but the contract
> agreement in the terms of service are much more binding, they override
> your copyright.
> 
> If the terms of service do not allow mass database extraction, WP is
> violating that on a large scale.

1. Is there mass database extraction of any particular service? If so, 
who by? Editors have used multiple ways of coming up with these lat/long 
values; GPS location reader, Sat Nav, Google Maps / Earth, OS maps, maps 
by other company online and printed, ... Unless there's a bot somewhere 
that go through one particular service, (say) Google Maps / Earth 
extracting data that I'm not aware of....

2. The contract is between the service provider (again say) Google, and 
the end user of that service, i.e. the person who access it and later 
input the value into WP. Nowhere did Wikimedia Foundation come to any 
agreement with Google. One can't violate a contract that never existed.

> The online maps are provided to you under very strict rules and to
> access them you must agree to them.
> The whole idea of many map providers is that you can only view these
> great maps using their software and their software keys.
> 
> If wikipedia is condoning a mass import of data from such a source
> that goes against that contract, how can you justify it? How can other
> people trust the judgement of wikipedia on this issue?

You are assuming there is 1) any violation of contract in the first 
place; 2) the wikipedia community is aware of it; 3) said community is 
condoning it.

> What if we start to write articles about street and include all the
> buildings and boring parts of the streets in the WP or some
> subproject, where would it stop? What would protect a database of
> streets against such a swarm of fact collectors?
> mike

If you're outside the EU, then not a lot. The EU has the concept of 
database right, but that does not exist in other part of the world. 
Wikipedia is operated under US federal and California (?) state laws, 
where mere collections of facts are considered unoriginal and unprotected.

KTC

-- 
Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
     - Heinrich Heine
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