[OSM-talk] GPX tracing out of copyright maps

Richard Fairhurst richard at systemeD.net
Mon Nov 13 13:08:42 GMT 2006


Quoting Nick Burch <openstreetmap at gagravarr.org>:

> Having just heard back from a friend who's a lawyer, I'm told that this is
> incorrect. For the UK:
>
> "Yup, section 12(8)(a)(i) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
> states that for literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works having
> multiple authors, the term of protection is 70 years from the end of
> the calendar year in which the last surviving author passes away.
> There are no alterations of the term."

:(

I think (from a brief-ish reading of the legislation) that the  
difference here is between "joint authorship" and "unknown  
authorship". Joint ownership is 70 years after the death of the last  
surviving author, unknown authorship is 70 years after the year in  
which the work was published. What does a map like the ABC count as?  
Well, I guess it depends whether we/Philips could identify any of the  
original authors or not...

Richard
(scurrying off to abebooks to find Ordnance Survey streetmaps of London)





More information about the talk mailing list