Copyright (was PDFs and tapeworm descriptions)

[Richard Pyle]

> Unfortunately, most of those "can'ts" are no longer true, particularly
> in Europe.  The simple creation of a database of previously unprotected
> works grants new copyright protection to the database where those data
> reside.

In the case of, say, a database of scientific names and uncopyrighted
information relating to their original descriptions, type specimens, etc.
(i.e, not scanned copyrighted original descriptions per se, but ASCII
representations of taxon names, reference citations, catalog numbers,
etc.) -- do these new copyright provisions protect the *information* (in an
intellectual sense), or just that particular incarnation of the digital
representation thereof?

For example, suppose that Joe Smith goes through all the original
descriptions of species relevant to the family Pomacanthidae, and enters all
the names, reference citations, catalog numbers for type specimens, etc.
into his database.  If he then secondarily copyrights said database, I
gather that Rich Pyle would not be legally able to download Smith's database
and re-distribute it without Smith's permission.  But what if Rich Pyle
independently combed through the original liteurature, and built his own
database of the same information from scratch.  Is Rich Pyle then free to
publish the contents of *his* version of essentially the same database
online, and further declare it to be in the public domain?  If people
download Rich Pyle's database, would they be bound by copyright protecion of
Joe Smith's database -- because the data sets are essentially identical? Or,
will it just be the case that Joe won't be able to sell anyone access to his
database, because they can already get it for free from Rich? (That is,
assuming that Rich's version is of essentially equal accuracy and quality --
which in this case is by no means a safe assumption...)

The point is, what, specifically, is being copyrighted?  Ones and Zeros?
ASCII?  Or, the root intellectual information content?

Aloha,
Rich