Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucsd!helios.ee.lbl.gov!ncis.tis.llnl.gov!mcb
From: mcb@ncis.tis.llnl.gov (Michael C. Berch)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: UUCP Maps Used For Commerce
Message-ID: <489@ncis.tis.llnl.gov>
Date: 27 Sep 89 06:39:32 GMT
References: <10017@ucsd.Edu> <3833@itivax.iti.org> <1989Sep21.220406.14140@algor2.algorists.com> <328@sci34hub.UUCP> <1989Sep23.200844.22022@algor2.algorists.com>
Organization: Postmodern Consulting, Pleasanton CA USA
Lines: 48

Some thoughts on the issue:

1.  It is a settled point of law that mailing lists and other unique
assemblages of facts, bibliographic information, etc., are
copyrightable as compilations. The Copyright Office has accepted
such works for registration for many years and the concept has been
upheld in the Federal courts.  Section 101 of the Copyright Act
provides that a "compilation" is "a work formed by the collection and
assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected,
coordinated, or arranged in a way that the resulting work as a whole
constitutes an original work of authorship".  There is no requirement
that the work be "creative".  It would be a "literary" work, but in
copyright law the term "literary" really means "verbal" (as opposed to
"musical" or "audiovisual", etc.)  Computer programs, for example, are
"literary works".  I have no doubt, based on what UUCP map coordinators 
and the UUCP mapping project do, that the maps would constitute a 
copyrightable compilation.

2. Even if a compilation copyright was claimed in the UUCP map files,
this would not be sufficient to prevent use of map entries as sales
leads, telemarketing info, a mailing list, etc.  The so-called
"bundle" of exclusive rights granted to the owners of copyrights are
enumerated in Section 106 of the Act, and include (in paraphrase) the
following:  (1) the right to reproduce the work in copies; (2) the
right to prepare derivative works; (3) the right to distribute copies
of the work to the public; (4) the right to perform the work
publicly; and (5) the right to display the work publicly.
None of these exclusive rights (or anything in the Moral Rights codex
of the Berne Convention) would prevent the holder of a copy of
the work from using it to his commercial advantage, so long as none
of the enumerated rights in Section 106 are infringed.

3. A choice-of-law issue may arise with respect to claims of copyright
in map entries prepared outside of the United States (I believe some of the
EUUG map files bore copyright notices, but haven't looked to see
recently).  The choice-of-law issue is complicated by the fact that
the maps themselves are published in the United States (Rutgers
University) but authored/compiled outside the U.S.  Even if European
copyright (or data privacy) laws prevented the commercial use of the
map information, this would be unlikely to be given extraterritorial
effect, meaning that U.S. firms would be free to use the information
for commercial advantage.

--
Michael C. Berch  
Member of the California Bar
mcb@tis.llnl.gov / uunet!tis.llnl.gov!mcb  (until 9/28)
mcb@mica.berkeley.edu / ucbvax!mica!mcb    (thereafter)