[Geodata] RE: [OSM-legal-talk] [OSGeo-Discuss] Promoting freely availablegeodata

[Barnett, Phillip]

Actually according to the quotes from the time [1], it's not the case
that the AA were caught copying Easter eggs, or fake features. The case
rested on the stylistic similarities of the represented data, which, in
my opinion, means that the copyright infringement was of the rendering,
not of the data. If it turns out, as seems to be the case, that the data
cannot be copyright, then that does fit with the Ordnance Survey vs The
AA case.

Phillip


[1]"A team of Ordnance Survey experts identified unique "fingerprints"
in these publications which proved that the AA was using its maps as a
source. 
These included stylistic features and proportions - such as the width of
roads in each drawing. 
Ordnance Survey's chief executive, Vanessa Lawrence, said: "There are
design elements in the way we show things which are not obvious to
either the user or the copier. When we see the two versions side by
side, we can spot clues." .... She stressed that Ordnance Survey's
"fingerprints" did not extend to putting misleading features in maps:
"There are some publishers who put deliberate mistakes in their maps. We
don't do that - it would mislead our customers. For us, it's more about
the style we use." "


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,447171,00.html


SteveC said:
IANAL. We have case law here in the UK where big company a (the AA) was 
taken to court by b (the OS) because they copied their maps. The 
clincher was that they also copied fake streets, easter eggs, trap 
streets in the map. This gave away that they copied 'their' map. So does

it fall down because these are not facts, they're creative secrets? If 
in your next conversation or otherwise you could ask about this it would

be super helpful.
 
 



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