[OSM-talk] Talk-GB Digest, Vol 51, Issue 12

[Tom Hughes]

On 27 December 2010 19:27, Mike Harris <mikh at delco.idps.co.uk> wrote:

> Highway Authority states that there is no copyright.

Well they are probably correct that there is not copyright but there
will be database right as, like copyright, it is entirely automatic.

They may have meant that they are happy to disclaim their rights, or
that they are happy to grant you a license to do what you wish with
it, which is fine for you. Other people should not assume that their
local authority will take the same view however.

Tom

> mikh43
>
> On 27/12/2010 16:23, Tom Hughes wrote:
>
> On 27 December 2010 14:57, Mike Harris <mikh43 at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> Common problem around here - although the conflict is usually between the
> sign(s) on the ground and the official name held in the "List of Streets"
> (there is one held by each Highway Authority and it has legal significance;
> it is freely available to the general public - for inspection in hard copy
> and also on-line - and there is no copyright issue from the Authority and
> the only conceivable one is if the OS claim copyright on grid references
> (even though they are only a transform of lat/long). Street signs on the
> ground - as others have pointed out - often change with time or are
> mis-spelled or different at different points on the same street. They are
> erected and paid for by the same Highway Authority that maintains the List
> of Streets! So deviations in signage from the List of Streets are simple
> errors.
>
> What is your basis for the claim that there is no copyright issue from
> the local authority?
>
> Copyright and/or Database Right will attach to this data just as much
> as to any other data and unless your local authority has disclaimed
> that or otherwise given you permission to use the data subject to an
> appropriate license then you shouldn't be using it.
>
> You should not confuse data being available to you (whether under
> FOIA, or the Highways Act or whatever) with the question of what
> rights attach to that data and hence what you can or can't do with it.
>
> Tom
>
>
> --
> Mike Harris

-- 
Tom Hughes (tom at compton.nu)
http://compton.nu/