[OSM-legal-talk] Does importing data give you a copyright?

[Frederik Ramm]

80n,

80n wrote:
> Dave Hanson relicensed the TIGER data under CC-BY-SA when he contributed 
> it to OSM.  If you received it from him you have to comply with his 
> license terms.

Just to be clear again, we're only using Dave as an example here; the 
real Dave Hansen has already agreed to the contributor terms so we're 
not worrying about him.

Generally, CC-BY-SA is a license based on copyright. I can only license 
something CC-BY-SA if I have a copyright in the first place. Since I do 
not automatically have a copyright on everything I touch, I'm afraid 
things are not as easy as you make it sound.

If I cut and paste a page of a Shakespeare play and put it on my web 
page, and write "CC-BY-SA 2.0" below it, that's null and void. Copying a 
page of text doesn't give me a copyright on it, and where I don't have a 
copyright I cannot license it CC-BY-SA. (I can perhaps say it but it 
isn't legally binding.)

If I download a TIGER file from the US government and mirror it on my 
web site, I cannot claim copyright or relicense it. Anyone who receives 
that data through me can do whatever he pleases with it, just as he can 
if he downloads the file from the government.

The question is, how much do I have to do with that file before I can 
legally (or, if someone fancies going into that, morally) claim a 
copyright. What if I convert line endings or use an automated process to 
convert from one character set to another - does that give rise to 
copyright? Or is it too trivial an action?

What if the action I do on the file is highly complex (such as 
converting from a shape file to OSM format or compiling from C source 
code to binary), but the action is done by a program where my only input 
is pressing a button and naming a file? Does copyright then lie with the 
author of the complex program, or is actually pushing the button on the 
software in this case non-trivial enough to warrant copyright?

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"