[OSM-legal-talk] Ordnance data

[John Wilbanks]

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John - this is ridiculous. Of course we can slap a new license on our 
map data to better protect it.

Why do people persist with this notion that maps cannot be copyrighted? 
The Ordnance Survey has won a number of court cases.

Aled.

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Ordnance Survey data carries a "crown copyright" unlike your data. See 
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/business/copyright/ and 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_copyright#United_Kingdom

And also note that the existence and assertion of crown copyright is 
held to have limited the use and benefits of ordnance survey data 
compared to the (public domain) survey data created by the us 
government. Again, this is a place where reasonable people may disagree.

*Maps* may indeed be copyrighted. The data that underlies those maps is 
probably in the public domain...

jtw