[OSM-legal-talk] Copyright status of OSM map data - initial results

[Ed Avis]

Rob Myers <rob at ...> writes:

>>In the US, the two lawyers found that the OSM map data is
>>copyrightable.  They mentioned the explicit inclusion of maps in
>>copyright law 
>
>But geodata is not a map, and the copyright on the database is not the
>copyright on its contents.

As I understood it, the precedents they found showed that copyright does cover
the geodata contained in the database, and is not dependent on having a paper
map or the difference between database and contents.  However I didn't have
time to go over these matters in depth.

If the written report doesn't address your concern, would you like to join in
a conference call with the legal team so you can put it to them directly?
I expect I could arrange this.

-- 
Ed Avis <eda at waniasset.com>