Can you alter the MIT license?

[Jules Bean]

On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Justin Wells wrote:

> 
> On Mon, Nov 15, 1999 at 12:45:34PM -0800, Bruce Perens wrote:
> > From: "Scott Johnston" <johnston at vectaport.com>
> > > A better example is Bruce Perens GPL'ing of the
> > > public domain TIGER map database last year from the US Census Bureau.
> > 
> > I am skating on thin ice on that one because it's a collection of facts
> > and not in itself copyrightable under current law. Thus you should not use
> > it as an example. I can hold a copyright on certain aspects of the data,
> > such as its representation, but I can't copyright the fact that a street
> > runs between two coordinates.
> > 
> > 	Thanks
> > 
> > 	Bruce
> 
> <offtopic>
> How far can you go with this notion that you cannot copyright a fact? Can you
> copyright the arrangement of chess men on a chess board? (In other words, can 
> you copyright a chess problem?) 
> 
> If you cannot copyright that, then how can you copyright the arrangement of 
> letters on a page? There is a large but finite number of combinations in 
> both cases, so what would the difference be?
> </offtopic>

Exactly. Reductio ad absurdum.

This is why our legal system, for better or for worse, is decided by
judges, magistrates and juries, not computers.  Following rules logically
won't get you there.

You can copyright something to the extent that you have authored an
original work.  The fact that a street runs between two coordinates is not
a piece of original work. A drawing of the same street is. An arrangement
of letters on a page isn't, per se, an original work.  The meaning they
convey is.

Jules
 
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