[OSM-legal-talk] legal-talk Digest, Vol 19, Issue 1

[John Wilbanks]

I got a question from the list, did some research, and herein present 
the answers. That's it - as Steve noted early in this, IANAL, and 
arguments about the law between non lawyers can be as absurd as 
arguments about geospatial nodes between lawyers...

I suggest you sit down with some lawyers and pose these questions 
yourself - it's what I did, and I got the answer that you don't like. 
Apologies for that, but it's what (including one geospatial scientist 
who is also an attorney) the research turned up.

> Ignore all the facts and focus please on just the non-factual, creative
> easter eggs.  Suppose someone creates a series of fake streets with fake
> names (suppose that they all rhyme, just to make sure that they pass muster
> as creative elements - although the criteria is generally considered to be
> very low).  If this collection of rhyming fake names is published then it
> will be copyrightable.

They will not necessarily be copyrightable. I again strongly suggest you 
talk to a lawyer about this and see what you find, rather than engaging 
me in argument. I posed this as a pretty generic query and got a strong 
set of answers back, and I talked to people with whom I quarrel about 
the law and freedom - just those with whom I agree - and the answer was 
unanimous.

> Agreed, Feist v Rural is irrelevant here.  The fake entries were just used
> for copy detection, they played no part in the case.

Actually, I'm told it is indeed relevant here. The case considered 
whether or not the entire compilation was copyrightable, including the 
fake entries, which could very well have been rhyming or whatever you 
want them to be in terms of creativity. The entire compilation was found 
to be non copyrightable. That places the most important precedent of 
modern copyright law squarely on the side of easter eggs being 
irrelevant to copyright - and whatever you or I think of the wisdom of 
that, that's the precedent.

Again, this is what my research turned up. Jordan, can you jump in here 
and give an educational viewpoint?

jtw