[OSM-legal-talk] Okay to trace from public-domain USGS DOQs?

Russ Nelson russ at cloudmade.com
Wed Feb 11 23:40:48 GMT 2009


On Feb 11, 2009, at 5:25 PM, Andy Allan wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Russ Nelson <russ at cloudmade.com>  
> wrote:
>> Is it okay to trace into OSM from the public-domain USGS Topographic
>> and DOQ (Digital Orthographic Quads) aerial imagery?  I think the
>> answer there should be clearly "yes".
>
> IS yes, or SHOULD BE yes?

For that question, the answer IS yes period full stop.  Otherwise we  
insert the brain probe and test for sanity.

That's why I asked two questions.  If you get a GeoTIFF directly from  
the USGS, and make it available by a WMS, there is also no question  
that the answer is "yes".  It seems to me implausible that accessing  
the same data from a different source should be legally different  
under copyright law.  I've never heard anybody allege that Microsoft  
is inserting Easter Eggs; without them, there is no creativity and no  
copyright.

> I would suggest either getting confirmation
> from terraservice.net (if their Ts&Cs aren't clear, then ask someone)

Working on it.  Their T&C are the standard Microsoft copyright:  
derivative works prohibited.  But that doesn't matter; copyright law  
prohibits derivative works.  If you think there is a copyright in the  
absence of any detectable creativity, then a license or waiver of  
copyright is needed.

One possible solution is to get a legal opinion (which costs money, of  
course), and mark edits traced from terraservice.  If there's a  
lawsuit, you go to the judge, show the legal opinion, claim innocent  
infringement, and purge the database of edits derived from  
terraservice.  No penalty beyond the loss of the data.

> or since the original imagery is available from somewhere as PD just
> bypassing any doubt and go upstream.

Haven't been able to find an alternative source.  Suggestions  
appreciated.

--
Russ Nelson - http://community.cloudmade.com/blog - http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:RussNelson
russ at cloudmade.com - http://openstreetmap.org/user/RussNelson





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