[Imports] Permission Statement

[Greg Troxel]

Brian May <bmay at mapwise.com> writes:

> On 3/12/2020 9:30 AM, Mike Thompson wrote:
>> I am working on a plan to import some data from the US State of
>> Colorado. I have reached out to the appropriate officials in the
>> state government asking for permission, or at least a statement that
>> the data is in the public domain.  I used the "Letter 1 Template"
>> found here[0]. The response I have received is:
>>
>> "Basically it's public data, so you should be able to do what you
>> want with it."
>>
>> It seems that they are not allowed to say anything else.
>>
>> Is this sufficient?
>
> I would think so. Sounds like he's telling you the data you are
> requesting is not restricted in any way by public records law in
> Colorado, so its therefore public domain.
>
> To know for sure, consult the Colorado Statutes on public
> records. Google Colorado public records law and you will find this
> site: https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/info_center/cora.html

Being able to access a public record is one thing, and possible
copyright issues are another.   The page does not mention copyright, and
it's the same thing in Massachusetts.

If someone writes a letter to a government official, that becomes a
public record on receipt, but the government does not hold copyright.


In this case, I interpret

>> "Basically it's public data, so you should be able to do what you
>> want with it."

as a broad grant under copyright law, from someone who is perhaps not as
pednatic about copyright as OSM and not so concerned.


In Massachusetts, there was previously some data which had third-party
claims and MassGIS has moved to stop using that data (addressing points,
and Google imagery), basically replacing them with sources they control
and can grant permission on.

So it seems reasonably clear that the data in CO you are talking about
is something that is either actually PD or which the state is able to
grant permission to copy.