[OSM-legal-talk] Houses of cards

[A Morris]

So, you are saying that in the US, map data has no copyright or database
right, and is effectively PD?

Let's think what would happen if map data cannot be copyrighted.

As an advocate of share-alike, I would be absolutely fine with this outcome.
If PD is the only option *for everyone* in the US, then it is the ultimate
copyleft. All the goals of copyleft/share-alike are immediately met. Noone
can take that data proprietary in the US.

In Europe, we would still need a license to prevent proprietary forks.

So, even if you are correct, it doesn't matter. A license can still be used
to enforce share-alike via contract, copyright and database right; if that
license turns out to be invalid, then share-alike is enforced by the lack of
copyright or database right on *any* map data.

Aled

If I am a US college student with a Tor client, an SSL connection and a
> Hotmail account, I can grab the OSM tarball, remove the ODL, and upload
> it to archive.org or a torrent host.
>
> - Copyright doesn't apply because it's data.
>
> - Database right doesn't apply because I'm in the US.
>
> - Trade secrets don't apply because the data is publicly available.
>
> - I have violated the contract but I am completely anonymous and
> untraceable. Nobody can find out who I am to do anything about this. And
> OSM would want copyright restored not damages anyway, which isn't
> possible.
>
> So anyone can grab the now copyleft-less OSM data (outside the EU at
> least) and there is very little OSM can do about it.
>
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