Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 19:00:03 -0400 From: "Thomas M. Sommers" <tms2@mail.ptd.net> To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why are people against GNU? WAS Re: 5.0 already? Message-ID: <392475F3.513EE781@mail.ptd.net> References: <003b01bfbcdc$6059fb40$a164aad0@kickme> <391D71FE.1570F551@asme.org> <20000513205610.A22103@physics.iisc.ernet.in> <3.0.6.32.20000513143506.00895650@mail85.pair.com> <20000514010614.A16058@happy.checkpoint.com> <3.0.6.32.20000513180213.00894400@mail85.pair.com> <20000514023000.A16663@happy.checkpoint.com> <3.0.6.32.20000513192827.00895a10@mail85.pair.com> <20000514040731.B17455@happy.checkpoint.com> <391E27DD.320D4BBF@mail.ptd.net> <20000514024308.A57423@sasami.jurai.net>
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Anatoly Vorobey wrote: > > You, Thomas M. Sommers, were spotted writing this on Sun, May 14, 2000 at 12:13:17AM -0400: > > Anatoly Vorobey wrote: > > > > > > Next, consider crossword puzzles. They can't be copyrighted. They > > > are a result of hard work. > > > > Do you have a citation in support of this proposition? I have certainly > > seen copyright notices on collections of puzzles. > > The collections are copyrighted as *collections*, according to the > law of database copyright. You can rip off any individual crossword > and do with it what you will (you can't do that when the collection > is of poems). > According to 17 USC 103, "The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work ... ." Since puzzle collections generally consist only of puzzles, there is nothing that the editor contributes that could he could copyright. Reading the statute, I don't see how puzzles could not be copyright, unless they are considered "useful articles", which seems a stretch. I am sure that I have seen copyright notices on individual puzzles, but I can't find one right now, so I won't make that assertion. > Sorry, no citation. I am less willing to stake my life on the crosswords > issue than on the chess games issue, though, where the fact that individual > games can't be copyrighted is used every day by thousands of papers all > over the world in their news section, and is well-known inside the > community of chess fans and writers, etc. A chess game is an event, not a literary or artistic work of any sort. You could not more copyright a chess game than you could copyright a walk in the park. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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