On Monday, January 15, 2001, Mike and Karen Goad <[email protected]> wrote: > A work must be the product of a minimal amount of creativity to be > protected by copyright.... The data contained in a factual compilation need > not be presented in an innovative or surprising way, but the selection > and/or arrangement cannot be so mechanical or routine as to require no > creativity whatsoever. If no creativity was employed in selecting or > arranging the data, the compilation will not receive copyright protection. > The SELECTION of the data in a compilation will satisfy the minimal > creativity test if the compiler has: > * chosen less than all of the data in a given body of relevant > material, regardless of whether it is taken from one or more sources, or > * taken all of the data from several different sources and combine > them to form a new work. > The compiler's ARRANGEMENT or coordination of the data in a compilation > will satisfy the creativity requirement as long as the data is ordered into > lists or categories that go beyond the mere mechanical grouping of > data. Alphabetical, chronological or sequential listings of data are > purely mechanical and do not satisfy the minimal creativity requirement. > "Representatives of the Copyright Office have indicated that in their > view the following types of compilations will usually FAIL to satisfy the > minimal creativity requirement: > Street address directories, alumni directories, membership lists, mailing > lists, subscriber lists..., parts lists..., This implies that any simple index to a book is unprotected, as well. S R C A cott obert ranston nderson [email protected] Administrator, {C{OFFIELD,OLLOSKY,RANSTON,UMMINS},OHGUERNS}[email protected] USGenWeb Coordinator, http://www.usgennet.org/usa/oh/county/guernsey/

At 12:34 AM 1/16/01 -0500, Scott Anderson wrote: >This implies that any simple index to a book is unprotected, as well. As I see it, it depends upon whether or not the index meets the minimum creativity threshold. An index, in one respect, is simply a list of the page or pages that certain items are on. The selection of what items to include in the index will affect whether or not it is truly protected, as will the nature of the work being indexed. The index to "Hell on the Border - He Hanged Eighty-Eight Men," a book published in 1898 with an index created & copyrighted in 1992, will have more creativity and originality than an index of the 1850 census returns for Richland Township, Madison County, Arkansas. An index that lists all of the names in a compilation in alphabetical order may not have sufficient originality to be protected if the compilation itself does not have sufficient originality of selection for protection. On the other hand, an index that lists only the most significant names in that same compilation may cross the threshold and be protected even if the compilation being indexed isn't. As well, an index of a compilation that has sufficient originality of selection and arrangement to be protected would also likely e protected. Mike