Thursday 9 September 2010

"information cannot be copyrighted"

Reading the instructions for authors from Routledge (for the forthcoming Ramage and Chapman "Perspectives on Information") it says:
Even tables require permissions—information cannot be copyrighted, but the layout, format, and selection of data is.
Interesting statement in the light of the subject matter of the book, but what does that 'selection of data' mean?

I'm sure I've seen claims for copyright protection on football fixture lists, for example - not that there are likely to be many football fixture lists in Ramage and Chapman.

2 comments:

Tony Hirst said...

You can assert a right over a database if a considerable amount of effort was expended in putting that database together... I think...?!

David Chapman said...

That would seem 'reasonable', but reason doesn't always seem to apply in copyright law. I'm sure Ray would know.