Data and Copyright

Abstract

EDITOR'S SUMMARY Raw data is not open to copyright, but databases, as compilations of data, have been treated differently. Early legal interpretations respected the compiler's work under the “sweat of the brow” doctrine, until the Supreme Court ruled in 1991 that a modicum of creativity was required to earn copyright protection. The Court also ruled the International News Service infringed on the rights of the Associated Press (AP) by telegraphing news gathered by its competitor, and that the AP's work was protected under state law through the “misappropriation doctrine.” The case was the basis of a 1997 case in which the National Basketball Association sued Motorola for transmitting real time game data by pager, making the defendant a competitor in providing the service. Databases must select, coordinate and arrange data with some creativity to earn copyright protection, and database producers use carefully worded contracts to protect their works. Librarians must be aware of copyright and contract details for databases and the scholarly use of data therein.

Perspective: The Power (Dynamics) of Open Data in Citizen Science

“…When making and sharing content, copyright is a traditional mechanism to clarify restrictions on data use/re-use. However, according to US law, copyright applies to "creative works" and thus does not often apply to databases unless there is some creativity in their compilation (Miller et al, 2008;Kristof, 2016). However, there are alternative approaches to data stewardship besides copyright.…”