[OSM-legal-talk] Database rights and who has them

Frederik Ramm frederik at remote.org
Wed Apr 1 14:53:31 BST 2009


Hi,

Brian Quinion wrote:
> My impression is that it might have implications for whether database
> rights apply to OSM data and who owns that protection since it
> suggests:

[...]

Interesting points. I guess ODbL tries to somehow override the cases 
where database rights do not arise by saying "well then we have a contract".

> 'Remember that a database can attract copyright as well as database
> rights. The reduction in the scope of protection under database rights
> may mean that the makers of databases seek to rely more on copyright
> in order to protect their investment.'

Copyright, in connection with databases, never means copyright on the 
contents, just a copyright on the layout, structure, or modes of access 
to the database. I don't think there is a lot of copyrightable material 
like that in OSM, and if it were, then the copyright owners would 
neither be OSMF nor the mappers, but the individuals who have designed 
the database.

Bye
Frederik




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