[OSM-talk] Maps and names

[Emil]

On 9/3/06, Dean Earley <dean at earlsoft.co.uk> wrote:
> The "problem" is when you copy their mistakes, intentional or not, and
> as such is their "creative work", not facts (I make creative typos as
> well :)

I think this is irrelevant - Suppose a misspelled street name is
copied, or an incorrect street name (as opposed to copying fictional
roads - as I do think the visual representation of the map is
copyrightable, so things are more complex here) Here the defendent
would say that they looked up the name of the road on the map, which
is supposed to be an authoritative source, and reported on their map
what it was called. It's still about "facts", even though they are not
true. (In fact it doesn't matter that the OS maps are an authoritative
source, but I think it adds to the case.) I could tell you that Upper
Street in Islington is in fact called Downer Street, and you could go
an put that in a book, they wouldn't be copyright infringement.

Emil