[Wikipedia-l] comment on wikipedia

[Delirium]

Alex R. wrote:

>Police ledgers are not copyrightable, that is public information.
>Just like the news is not really copyrightable. That is why you can
>use pictures of famous people and famous events. Unless their is
>something particularly creative about the photo there is just a mechanical
>reproduction. Sort of like the copyright of an old painting.
>  
>
I've never seen a ruling that "the news", in general, isn't 
copyrightable.  It's certainly the case that if I were to start copying 
the NY Times' news stories and republishing them, even editing out the 
editorials and reporting "just the news", I would almost certainly be 
sued, and would, barring some change in the way the law is interpreted, 
most likely lose.

-Mark