[Talk-GB] [Imports] Importing fuel stations in UK and future similar imports

[David Woolley]

On 13/05/17 08:08, Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> There is no "fair use" clause in UK copyright law, which is important not
> just because OSM is hosted in England & Wales but also because this is
> presumably a dataset in part containing materials with an E&W copyright
> holder.

Also, maps are covered by database rights as well as copyright, for 15 
years, and that is the real issue for geocoding, as it doesn't require 
any degree of creativity.

UK copyright law does cover databases, but only to the extent that there 
has been an element of creativity.  For most maps that element almost 
certainly exists, in terms of how shapes have been simplified, and 
features selected as important enough to include.

However there is a second level of protection, which covers things like 
telephone directories, once you eliminate the copyright that does exist 
in the typographical arrangement.  See 
<http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/3032/part/III/made>.  In 
particular see clause 16(2) 
<http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/3032/regulation/16/made>, where 
it explicitly says that piecemeal extraction of the data is as much an 
offence as extracting a substantial part all at once.  This is why OSM 
cannot adopt the Wikipedia philosophy of allowing databases to be copied 
one entry per article.

(On fair use and fair dealing, these terms are not well defined in 
English or US law, but one element of them is generally that it should 
not be to the commercial disadvantage of the rights owner, and another, 
at least for the UK, is that there must be a public interest in doing so.)

IANAL TINLA