In a message dated 9/22/2006 11:44:31 AM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: It comes down to “ownership” of the information. Do you own the information? <snip> The term “publish” is when you put a book on to the market. It does not mean copy righted. Most books that are published are copy righted. If the information in the book or CD is from the public domain the information is not owned by the author and is available to be copied. Scott in Cleveland Scott- Actually copyright comes down to the issue of "did you create it and does it meet the test of originality?" You don't create facts so you can't copyright facts--you may have discovered them but you didn't create them. However, if facts are presented in an original format the formatting might meet the test of originality. Also, you can't just take an entire book and scan it/reproduce it without violating the copyright on the the book as a collection/database. "How is copyright created and protected? A copyright is automatically comes into existence the moment an author fixes her words n some tangible form--for instance, the moment a book or article is type, handwritten or dictated." "So long as copies of a work are made available to the public, the work is "published" for copyright purposes even if no copies are actually sold or otherwise distributed." From the Copyright Handbook by Stephen Fishman. Joan