[Talk-us] sweat of the brow & sui generis database rights | Re: Interested in importing address points in New York State

[Rory McCann]

On 16/07/2020 13:35, Russell Nelson wrote:
> As you say, it's just a listing of facts about the world. At most the 
> presentation of them is copyrightable, but as Skyler noted, he's 
> changing the presentation.
> 
> No license needed for facts.

Remember, that might the law in the USA, but not in the whole world, 
including the UK, where (lots of) the OSM servers & legal body is based, 
which can have the  “sweat of the brow” doctrine, rather than the higher 
  “creativity” requirement. In addition, many countries (incl. EU & UK) 
have “sui generis database rights”, which give copyright like 
protections to collections of facts. OSM uses that legal protection.

Regardless, OSM is not a forum to explore the grey areas of 
international copyright law. If we're not sure, we don't use it! 🙂


Rory