[Talk-us] Tiger Street Names and Copyright

[80n]

On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 9:36 PM, Ian Dees <ian.dees at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 3:25 PM, <richard at weait.com> wrote:
>
>> Hilton Long said:
>> > Tiger line files are incomplete, especially as regards streets in new
>> > developments.  It's possible to draw the streets from Yahoo imagery.
>>  But
>> > where to get the names?  Must they come off of street signs?  Is it a
>> > violation of copyright to take the names (and ONLY the names) from
>> Google,
>> > Yahoo, or Microsoft Maps?
>>
>> It is absolutely a violation of copyright to take street names from
>> copyright maps.
>
>
> That's incorrect. As discussed previously on one of the other OSM e-mail
> lists [1], the US Supreme Court ruled long ago [2] that facts are not
> copyrightable. Street names are not copyrightable because they are facts.
> Google Maps and similar do not add any creative spark specifically to street
> names so the street names are not copyrightable. On the other hand, the
> street centerline data is copyrightable because Google is adding a spark of
> creativity to the factual data.
>

Regardless of any legal precedents that may or may seem to be applicable, it
is OSM's generally held policy to be extremely cautious about copyright
infringement.  Copying data from maps that are covered by current copyrights
is considered unacceptable.

The best source of data is from on-the-ground observations.
Etienne



>
> [1] http://www.mail-archive.com/newbies@openstreetmap.org/msg00502.html
> [2]
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications_v._Rural_Telephone_Service
>
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