Fwd: Serious breach of copyright -- First post

Dag-Erling Smørgrav des at des.no
Mon Jun 19 09:58:03 UTC 2006


Dennis Olvany <dennisolvany at gmail.com> writes:
> I had a look at http://www.houfug.org/help/install_freebsd.htm and I am
> afraid that you will find this article is not eligible for copyright. It
> constitutes neither an artistic nor literary work. The article conveys
> only facts and facts are not eligible for copyright.

You're on to something, but you didn't quite get it right.  Copyright
law does not care about artistic or literary qualities; and while
plain facts are not copyrightable, as you point out, their expression
certainly is.

A Haynes workshop manual, for instance, is neither art nor literature,
and it is full of facts, but it is definitely copyrightable.  I can
put up a web page describing how to change the starter motor on my
brother's Citroën CX (bitch of a job, I'll have you know), but I have
to use my own words and photos, not those from my brother's Haynes
manual.

DES
-- 
Dag-Erling Smørgrav - des at des.no


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