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Archiver > APG > 2004-02 > 1077028728


From: "Richard A. Pence" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Re: Copyrighting facts
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 09:38:50 -0500
References: <NCBBLOACEKFICHKEDAOJMEJNINAA.garymokotoff@optonline.net>


While Justice O'Conner in the Feist vs Rural Telephone case did state that
facts per se were not copyrightable, she further said that mere names and
address as alphabetized in a phone director did not meet the test of
creativity in the Constitution and the copyright laws. I believe one could
reasonably argue that - as you suggest - the selection and arrangement of
genealogical "facts" can be copyrighted. The key is not whether the material
consists entirely of "facts" (which, some say, is what genealogical data can
be construed as), but WHICH facts are associated with which people and the
arrangement of them. I suggest that the fact of John Smith's date and place
of birth is not copyrightable, but that this birth date place is for the
same John Smith who later married Mary Doe is copyrighttable - in spite of
what O'Conner said about an alphabetized list of names and phone numbers.

Regards,
Richard Pence


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Mokotoff (Optonline)" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 12:03 AM
Subject: [APG] Re: Copyrighting facts


> The Supreme Court decided a number of years ago (Feist vs. Rural
Telephone)
> you cannot copyright facts. Therefore anyone can copy the data you acquire
> and publish--not matter how difficult to acquire--but they cannot copy the
> format. That is why the recent discussion where it is alleged someone
> exactly copied the content and form of some genealogical data (on to CD)
> would be a copyright infringement. Prior to the Court decision, facts that
> were difficult to acquire (what was called "acquired by the sweat of the
> brow") were considered copyrightable.
>
> It is my understanding that some federal courts have backed down a bit
from
> this broad ruling. For example, if the facts were acquired selectively
> requiring judgment on the part of the compiler, then that collection of
> facts might be copyrightable.
>
> Gary Mokotoff
>
>
> ==== APG Mailing List ====
> The Association of Professional Genealogists
> http://www.apgen.org/publications/apg-l/index.html
>
>


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