On Wed, Aug 14, 2002 at 19:27:54 +0200, Peter Makholm wrote: > Kevin Atkinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > There is good reason to believe this is not the case (at least in the US) > > based on the "Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service > > Company, Inc." Supreme Court case > > I would be pretty sure that a phonebook is protected in the European Union > by the Database Directive.
Probably. See http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/database.html#directive, in particular this bit: :The second right, however, provides for a sui generis right that prohibits :the extraction or reutilization of any database in which there has been a :substantial investment in either obtaining, verification, or presentation :of the data contents. Under this second right, there is no requirement for :creativity or originality. In effect, this right gives databases in Europe :the type of "sweat of the brow" protection that was explicitly rejected by :the Supreme Court in Feist. The sui generis right lasts for fifteen years :from the date of the database's creation. HTH, Ray -- "If we put in English phrases, that makes it readable". That's COBOL. Larry Wall on common fallacies of language design
