At 01:16 PM 2/5/2006, you wrote: >After reading through the bridgeman corel decision about photoreproduction >of public domain art, I was struck by a certain part of the decision. I >think this is actually from a later judgement related to the original >decision, which I've found through LexisNexis: > >'There is little doubt that many photographs, probably the overwhelming >majority, reflect at least the modest amount of originality required for >copyright protection. "Elements of originality . . . may include posing >the subjects, lighting, angle, selection of film and camera, evoking the >desired expression, and almost any other variant involved." >n39 [*197] But "slavish copying," although doubtless requiring technical >skill and effort, does not qualify. n40 As the Supreme Court indicated in >Feist, "sweat of the brow" alone is not the "creative spark" which is the >sine qua non of originality. n41' > >Can someone explain, in the light of issues brought up in the paragraph >above, how database vendors (such as Proquest, for instance) can claim >copyright on digital copies of public domain censuses and other works? > >I am aware that most databases that reproduce public domain historical >data also have license agreements that prohibit publication and other uses >beyond fair use, but outside of these agreements, I wonder how could a >digital scan of a document fulfil the need for creativity, and not just be >a "slavish copy" requiring "technical skill and effort" described in the >above Bridgeman v. Corel decision? > I don't believe most reputable database vendors claim copyright of digital copies. They claim compilation copyright, i.e. whatever selection, coordination, and/or arrangement is original to their "collection". That is the reason most database compilers have licensing/access agreements <g> Enhancement of an image through a patented process would (I believe) be akin to any other technical skill or process used to create the copies. For example, the Xerox process was (is?) patented, but the copies it produces are exact copies within the capabilities of the process and are not copyrightable. Pat