[9494] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Inmac, junk mail, and the death of the net.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Barry Shein)
Thu Jan 6 22:37:57 1994
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 22:37:18 -0500
From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
To: lcbginge@antelope.wcc.edu
Cc: sommerfeld@apollo.hp.com, crocker@tis.com, spike@coke.std.com,
In-Reply-To: Bruce Gingery's message of Thu, 6 Jan 1994 20:15:09 -0700 (MST) <Pine.3.05.9401062007.E5265-b100000@antelope.wcc.edu>
>From: Bruce Gingery <lcbginge@antelope.wcc.edu> [responding to me]
>o> I thought it was decided by the Supreme Court recently that one cannot
>> copyright a mere list of names etc. against re-use? This was in
>> regards to re-use of telephone directories and whether the telcos
>> could claim a copyright on the list. They lost, there has to be
>> something more to the "work" than just compiling a list.
>
> If so, I missed that one. Compilations have been copyrighted for
> quite some time, at least in the USA, and the US has treaties with
> just about any other country which has any laws governing copyrights
> for mutual respect of copyrights.
The question is not whether or not compilations are copyrightable,
they certainly are.
The question is whether a "mere list of names" is a compilation under
(US) copyright law, or under what circumstances they are or aren't (I
suspect that's the case, sometimes they are, sometimes they're not.)
-Barry Shein
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