Re: Definition of "FACT" in Fair Use

On 28 Jun 2006, "kevin.souza@xxxxxxxxx" <kevin.souza@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I was unable to find a group that discusses only
Copyright and Fair Use issues. If there is such
a group I would to be pointed in that direction.

There are many such. F"r'instance look at and as you wish follow up
on the following and links thereon:

http://www.cni.org/forums/cni-copyright/
http://www.ifla.org/II/lists/diglib.htm

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/copyrightcommitt/copyrightcommittee.htm


I am the Director of Educational Technology of
a US Medical School and constantly field questions
about copyright and fair use as it applies to
eduction.

Where in the U.S. is there a medical school which doesn't have
in-house counsel and also attorneys on retainer?

And insofar as your school is concerned, are either merely, say, a
sole practitioner perhaps without access to LEXIS or WestLaw or,
instead, more than one attorney or even a comparatively large firm
which . . . guess what? . . . may have a "copyright" and "intellectual
property" department (the participants of which have telephone numbers
it might not be too difficult for a professional librarian to obtain)?

I was recently asked to define FACT when it applies
to copyright, as in, "you cannot copyright a FACT".

Statements such as, "The sky usually appears 'blue' to most human
viewers on a sunny day" or, "At sea level, water usually boils at 212
deg. F" or, "Three pounds of feathers weighs the same as three pounds
of lead measured at the same location" or, "By all accounts, the U.S.
'Declaration of Independence' was signed on July 4, 1776"; etc., etc.

Here is my educated guess. The World Almanac is a publication
of the company World Almanac. If I were to pull the population
of Malawi out as a FACT and use it in a document I would not
need to cite the WORLD ALMANAC as the copyright holder.
However if I were to pull out the entire collection of facts on
MALAWI as presented by WORLD ALMANAC . . .

. . . and do what with that you've pulled out? . . .

. . . then I would potentially violate copyright law (depending
on how it is used) since that specific collection of facts and
format is unique to WORLD ALMANAC.

Any insight on this topic?

You are self-misleadingly conflating

- what you presume to be the answer to the first
question you pose above (in substance, what's a
"fact" for copyright law purposes?)

with

- the different question of under what if any
circumstances one (whether or not a professional
librarian) "would need to cite" some particular
source of compiled "facts"

with (implicitly)

- the separate question under what circumstances
one (whether or not a professional librarian)
permissibly may not just "pull out [an] entire" work
of compiled "facts" but also make and provide a copy
thereof (without in the latter instance being obliged
to pay a royalty or be suable for copyright infringement).

For background understanding, find and read carefully

Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service, Co. (1991)
499 U.S. 340, 111 S. Ct. 1282, 113 L.Ed. 2d 358

and, preferably, some of the better commentaries about Feist.

.