Copyright (was PDFs and tapeworm descriptions)

[Richard Pyle]

> >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?
>
> Probably not if it represents a substantial portion of the
> original database.

I'm not sure I follow -- do you mean to suggest that if Joe Smith and Rich
Pyle both independently do the exact same work in keying-in data on taxon
names, reference citations, and catlog numbers from the published
literature, that whomever creates an ASCII version of this information first
is the one who can claim copyright??? This doesn't seem right to me.

> That compilation, if complete, would now represent the only source for a
> complete or nearly complete listing of these taxa.

But what if two people independently created the electronic data from
scratch, as was my example?  Can either claim copyright of the
*information*, or only to their own electronic representation thereof?  What
if one does it in ASCII, and the other in Unicode?

> Now of course, the only
> incentive for someone to invest the effort to create such a database and
> to copyright it would be if you could make money licensing the data, but
> who knows...

I was under the impression that we scientists, as servents of humanity,
would have more intellectual incentives for making information more freely
available...but maybe I'm living in a fantasy world.

> I only saw the original WIPO iteration, but in that version if
> your compilation
> caused financial harm to the original database creator, you were in
> violation.  I *believe* that provision is still true, so, yes
> another version
> of those words and concepts, at least as a complete account of the taxa,
> types, etc would be forbidden (at least if you published or distributed it
> and reduced the marketplace for the original).  If you are interested see:

Amazing!  I'm speechless. Maybe the Unicode thing will be a loophole around
this.

Aloha,
Rich

Richard L. Pyle
Ichthyology, Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817
Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252
email: deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
http://www.bishopmuseum.org/bishop/HBS/pylerichard.html
"The opinions expressed are those of the sender, and not necessarily those
of Bishop Museum."