As noted in Chapter One, in Feist v. Rural Telephone Service[1] the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the “sweat of the brow” doctrine and held that a white pages telephone directory could not be copyrighted because it lacked originality. But a database may be eligible for protection if the compiler exercised sufficient skill and judgment in selecting, organizing, and arranging the data.
Although many database providers thought that Feist would bring the apocalypse to their businesses, subsequent to that decision many lower courts have held that databases consisting of factual information (a Yellow Pages directory,[2] a database of used vehicles values,[3] or a price guide for yachts,[4] for example) may be copyrightable compilations. Remember that compilation copyright extends only to the material contributed by the author, not to the underlying materials that are compiled. For instance, data collected by tax assessors about real estate is not eligible for copyright protection, but its creative arrangement in a database is. The data may be extracted from the database and used freely.[5] However, using the copyrighted arrangement and compilation of the information may be infringing. Fair use, of course, is a possible defense.
The Bottom Line: You may use unprotected factual information from a printed work (like an almanac) or an online database that is copyrighted as a compilation. But if you copy or download a significant amount of that information in its compiled form—more than that which is allowed under fair use—you may violate the copyright that protects how the information is selected, arranged, and presented. For online products, remember to check your license.
- ↑ 499 U.S. 340 (1991).
- ↑ See, e.g., BellSouth Adver. & Publ’g Corp. v. Donnelly Info. Publ’g, Inc., 999 F.2d 1436 (11th Cir. 1993); Key Publ’ns, Inc. v. Chinatown Today, Publ’g, 945 F.2d 509 (2d Cir. 1991).
- ↑ CCC Info. Servs., Inc. v. Maclean Hunter Mkt. Reports, Inc., 44 F.3d 61 (2d Cir. 1994).
- ↑ BUC Int’l Corp. v. Int’l Yacht Council Ltd., 489 F.3d 1129 (11th Cir. 2007).
- ↑ Assessment Technologies of WI, LLC v. WIREdata, Inc., 350 F.3d 640 (7th Cir. 2003).
