[OSM-legal-talk] Ordnance data

[rob at robmyers.org]

Quoting John Wilbanks <wilbanks at creativecommons.org>:

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

I view OSM as a three-layer stack WRT copyright:

1. At the bottom are the GPS traces or other data. This is basically  
factual data, and so not copyrightable. I don't think issues of  
personal data or expressiveness come into this.

2. Above this are the nodes, segments and ways, based on that data.  
This involves some human decision making, and is a structured data  
set. For me, not being a lawyer, this is a grey area and could go  
either way.

3. Above this are the maps, rendered from this data, which are  
copyrightable. The duration of that copyright is debatable depending  
on whether the maps are regarded as computer generated or not.

The nice thing about the ODL is that this stack can be modeled in  
licences. But I don't want to see a situation where the "bad guys" can  
remove users rights and OSM's licence just helps the good guys stay  
good. If the contract approach has that effect, in particular if the  
copyleft it creates isn't transitive then I am concerned about it.

- Rob.