Re: Copyright of previous public domain

["rrhoon.mail.ncsu.edu" <robert_hoon@ncsu.edu>]

As I said, both parties, including the library, believe their
interpretation of applicable copyright would prevail.  The publisher is no
doubt claiming a compilation copyright.

You have raised a separate issue; I was not under the impression that
consideration was at issue or a claim that value was disproportionate with
the resources provided.  Your hypothetical presents issues of undisputed
fraud, not a question of statutory interpretation.

I think we are now discussing the chasm between the philosophical and the
pragmatic.  I agree philosphically, but if they want the resource, your
are not going to first resolve something as controversial as compilation
copyright in order to execute the license.

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Goodman" <dgoodman@princeton.edu>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2002 10:22 PM
Subject: Re: Copyright of previous public domain

> What you see as
>
> > an attempt by both parties to
> > agree upon benign language now, to get the license executed,
>
> I see as an attempt by one party to claim rights they do not own.
>
> I could sell you all the rights I have to all the houses on my block. I do
> own one house, and the contract would I suppose be effective for it. If I
> have previously misled you to think I have some rights in the others, and
> you have paid me on that basis, one doesn't have to be a lawyer to know an
> appropriate category for what I've done. If the total price I ask is fair
> for my own house, then it _is_ a question for a lawyer. I do know that if
> I try to sell property on this basis, most prudent people would think it
> unwise to buy from me.
>
> For general background on database protection, a good place to start is a
> posting on this list from the ALA
> http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/ListArchives/0208/msg00071.html (see
> item 2)  But I do agree that the appropriate rights in a database do or
> should depend on the details of the content of the database.