[OSM-legal-talk] Licence brief/Use Case - final call forcomments

[Jochen Topf]

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 02:47:39PM +0100, Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> Frederik Ramm wrote:
> 
> > What leads you to assume that your .ai files are databases?
> >
> > They're computer readable and they have individual objects that can
> > be accessed... but what file hasn't?
> 
>  From ODBL: "Database – A collection of Data arranged in a systematic  
> or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other  
> means offered under the terms of this Licence."
> 
> But I wouldn't say the .ai file is a database, it _contains_ a database.
> 
> > At what stage of processing would they, in your eyes, stop being
> > databases?
> 
> A sufficiently accurate, computer-produced map of the real world  
> always contains a database IMO.

The Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases defines a database as
"a collection of independent works, data or other materials arranged in
a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic
or other means". (From Wikipedia)

This is rather broad and would certainly cover the OSM XML format and
any other structured format. Probably not bitmaps of rendered maps, but
about everything else.

Jochen
-- 
Jochen Topf  jochen at remote.org  http://www.remote.org/jochen/  +49-721-388298