[talk-au] Copyright questions

[John Henderson]

Steve Bennett wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 10:16 AM, John Henderson <snowgum at gmx.com 
> <mailto:snowgum at gmx.com>> wrote:
> 
>     I'm unclear about some issues concerning copyright.  I'd like to put up
>     a couple of scenarios and get opinions.
> 
>     Let's say that many roads in a town are mapped but unnamed in OSM.  And
>     street signs are missing.
> 
>     I go to the local tourist information place and start asking for names.
>      They give me a photocopy of a street directory which shows all the
>     names.  But this photocopy has a copyright notice.
> 
>     Can I enter names from that page into OSM for the already-mapped ways?
> 
> 
> This is very similar to a question I asked recently on the main OSM 
> list. There is a real absence of copyright lawyers (let alone, 
> Australian copyright lawyers) around the place, to give definitive 
> answers. Since the issue seems to revolve around how "systematic" and 
> "substantial" the copying of information is, it probably depends how 
> many streets are in question. If there are 100 streets in the area, and 
> you can get the names of 80 by observation or other means, and you copy 
> 20, my hunch is that's ok... but then, I'm a bit more casual about this, 
> than other people.

Understood.  Thanks.

>     Second scenario.  I have the guidebook for a route.  This guidebook is
>     essential for following the route because of a lack of signage on the
>     route itself.  The guidebook gives turn-by-turn instructions.  The
>     roads/paths are already mapped on OSM.  Can I gather them together into
>     an OSM route relation using the information from the guidebook?
> 
> 
> That's trickier. It depends what the route is, who invented it, etc. For 
> example, I don't think you could reasonably add routes from "Bike Tours 
> around Victoria", which were researched, invented, and described by Kate 
> Blunden.  But if you're talking about some route which is well known in 
> public knowledge, and you're just relying on the guidebook for a 
> definitive description...I don't know. This seems like an area to tread 
> more carefully.

One route I'm thinking about is the Bicentennial National Trail.

http://www.nationaltrail.com.au/

Many signs have disappeared.  But some of is mapped in google (where 
it's given as the road name):

http://tinyurl.com/ya8bsvy

John