[Upd-discuss] Piracy and the Courts [2]

[Michael Hart]

On Tue, 6 Dec 2005, Dean Anderson wrote:

> On Thu, 1 Dec 2005, Adam Moran wrote:
>
>>
>>    Project Gutenberg's Position on "Sweat of the Brow" Copyright Claims
>>    --------------------------------------------------------------------
>> [...]
>>    There is some value-added content that DOES get a new copyright, but
>>    only for the actual new work (that is, it may be possible to remove
>>    the new copyrighted content to go back to a public domain document):
>>
>> [...]
>>      - creating a new compilation of existing materials (though the
>>        individual items compiled retain their public domain status)
>> [...]
>
> Did I misunderstand this?? I thought Project Gutenberg was against database
> copyright....

Project Gutenberg does not claim any copyrights on our collection.

For anyone fearing attact via compilation copyright, the easiest thing
to do is simply to do a "complete works" of whatever, which would include
ALL works in a certain category. . .anyone could say they are collecting
a complete public domain Shakespeare eBooks library, which might include
some, literally all, of the compiled and legally copyrighted collections.

The copyrightability of compilations requires some intellectual choices
be made. . .there is no such intellectual choice in a "complete works."


I am not a lawyer. . .this is NOT a legal opinion or legal advice.

IANAL = I am not a lawyer.


Happy Holidays!

Give eBooks!!!

Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg