-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Copyright of Data]
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 15:09:40 -0400
From: Tsering W. Shawa <[log in to unmask]>


Hi.

Let me express my understanding of a copyright issue of DRG data because
I was dealing with a licensing of geographic data lately.

All the DRG data that are disseminated by the federal agencies through
CDs/DVDs or the Internet are not copyrightable and hence are in a public
domain. However, if a person or a commercial company downloaded or
purchased the data and added values to the DRGs then they can claim
copyright for the work. Claiming a copyright for a geographic data is
very difficult task because in most cases there is a very little
creative expression goes into producing the data. As we all know,
geographic data is a factual information and therefore, it is not
copyrightable. Almost all the company that creates geographic data
understand this issue and therefore, they usually protect their work
through contractual agreement by signing a license. When you sign a
license you agreed to their terms.

Thanks.
-Wangyal

Tsering Wangyal Shawa
Geographic Information Systems Librarian
Head, Digital Map and Geospatial Information Center
Geosciences and Map Library
Guyot Hall, Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
Phone: (609) 258-6804
Fax: (609) 258-4607
www.princeton.edu/~geolib/gis