[Tagging] Roadside maps

[Richard Welty]

On 5/17/10 5:38 AM, Andre Engels wrote:
> On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 7:54 AM, John Smith<deltafoxtrot256 at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>    
>>> cautious than we need to be. Why do we consider what's written on a
>>> street sign to be a "fact", but the same words written on a map to be
>>> copyrightable? And many similar examples.
>>>        
>> A map is a collection of facts, which may or may not be copyrightable
>> depending on the jurisdiction, but a single fact most likely can't be
>> protected by copyright, although the sign itself might be due to
>> artistic flare of the designer etc etc etc.
>>      
> Even if the collection is copyrighted, that does not make its elements
> copyrighted. What is copyrighted in the case of such a collection, is
> the (result of) the selection process that decides which facts are and
> are not included.
>
>    
the other issue, of course, is when the map contains mistakes, which may 
be intentional
on the part of the map maker. in this latter case, they are likely there 
to create the copyright
claim.