Combining GPL and non-GPL code

[Arnoud Engelfriet]

David Woolley wrote:
> Chris Travers wrote:
> >in terms of selection, ordering, and organization of the work-- since a 
> >telephone directory has no expressive elements in a basic white-pages 
> >list, there isn't much that is copyrighted outside of advertising) and 
> 
> This might be the case for US law.  It appears to be the intent of UK 
> law that it is not the case of UK law, as there is copyright in 
> databases, which I believe is intended to cover exactly that case.

According to EU Directive 96/9/EC on the protection of databases,
databases which, by reason of the selection or arrangement of their
contents, constitute the author's own intellectual creation shall be
protected as such by copyright.

Independently from copyright this Directive also creates a _sui
generis_ right for databases that guards against extraction and/or
re-utilization of the whole or of a substantial part, evaluated
qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the contents of that
database. 

You get this right if creation of the database involves a substantial
investment in either the obtaining, verification or presentation of
the contents of the database. In the US they'd call this "sweat of
the brow". 

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch & European patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/
              Arnoud blogt nu ook: http://blog.iusmentis.com/