[OSM-talk] Data copied from Google Maps

vegard at engen.priv.no vegard at engen.priv.no
Tue Nov 6 09:38:41 GMT 2012


On Tue, Nov 06, 2012 at 10:28:45AM +0100, Pieren wrote:
> 
> A public domain street sign does not become automagically a
> copyrighted "derivative work" just because you see it through a
> copyrighted photo. And this is true worldwide, not only in some
> countries. But some people are continuing to keep the doubts because
> they have a preference for surveys on the ground (something we have to
> promote anyway but with fair arguments). Claiming copyright ownership
> on public domain material has a name, it's called "copyfraud" ([1])
> and is rarely sued in court in comparison to copyright infringements.
> 

The legality around copyright on "collections of facts" are different
throughout the world. We have to assume that collections of facts
are, indeed, copyrightable, and that a lawsuit (or even just bad 
publicity) based on it will be able to stick.

-- 
- Vegard Engen, member of the first RFC1149 implementation team.



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