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Re: Copyright in Bibliographic records?
This is the database protection issue: someone takes alot of time, effort and energy, and money to compile a really useful database. The individual data items as facts are not protected by copyright law (there's only "thin" protection in the entire compilation), so the database vendor controls licensee conduct with a contract. This is all the protection they have at the moment. This is why they wanted more and sought it in the US Congress last year and then in Geneva in the winter. It did not work either place, though it will be on the agenda again. That is, they want to create a form of protection for facts. This is a very important issue that all of us in the university/library community should be aware of. New protection for facts would alter 200 year old law in the US. This is quite a leap to make without a full and complete airing of the pros and cons. Georgia Harper Univ. of Tx. System Office of General Counsel gharper@utsystem.edu ---------- Interesting question...bibliographic records consist of facts yes? (facts about the item being cataloged).. Facts are not copyrightable. Only their expression is copyrightable. I suspect that the amount of original expression in a cataloging record is fairly minimal. If you were to do this wholesale, I would cretainly consult legal counsel, but I'm farily certain that copyright laws are not being violated if you copy bibliographic records. Lisa A. Eichholtz Reference Librarian Medical University of South Carolina Charleston, SC 29407 eichhola@musc.edu
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