[OSM-legal-talk] Protection time of ODbL

[James Livingston]

On 30/09/2009, at 7:36 AM, Frederik Ramm wrote:
> Question is: 1. what about the contents themselves. Have we reached a
> consensus that the contents of the database are themselves not  
> protected
> by copyright and do we explicitly say that we don't claim any  
> copyright?

I don't think that a consensus on what we think matters when  
discussing whether the contents of the database are protected by  
copyright, the laws of various countries matter. In some countries the  
answer is no, in some countries the answer is yes, and in some  
countries it's probably a grey area.


>  And 2. you are wrong because ODBL tries exactly that, to assert  
> rights
> over the collection even in jurisdictions where there are none, by
> invoking the idea of a contract

And I believe it has to use the idea of a contact because there are  
countries where there are no database or copyright rights that apply,  
or they are not effecting. I believe the US falls into this category  
because it doesn't have database rights, copyright on facts or  
copyright on databases.


> so where is it written that the
> contract, which may well exist in parallel to sui generis rights in
> Europe, also terminates after 15 years?

I don't think it is written there. So I would assume that the contact  
part lasts in-perpetuity, and you're not going to get the data after  
15 years in Europe.


[snipped]
> We require from our contributors that they grant OSMF and any  
> recipient
> of the data to do anything that would normally be restricted by
> copyright

Another thing to consider is what happens when The Contents that I'm  
uploading comes from another database, protected by a sui generis  
database right, or copyright on the database? I don't see any mention  
of that in the Contributor Terms.