npub1kpwlxpzkxfmuxjmzc2wp3rf9vjg0sgydmlhsnrgqr3maf59h86qqdxxzz4 (npub1kpw…xzz4) npub18yve5f33hyqq35t3y3xu72t9x33pfdznd0kq78lf73wkxchzr5hsmjxxyn (npub18yv…xxyn) Copyright is automatic on works that are subject to copyright, (i.e. creative works.) Works that are not creative are not subject to copyright, automatic or otherwise. You can copyright a program you wrote to create a list of prime numbers. You cannot copyright a list of prime numbers, no matter how much effort it takes to compile. Even novel ordering (say by the number of 9s in the decimal representation) doesn’t make the list creative. Writing a novel featuring the numbers on the list is, on the other hand, creative.
But if someone extracts the numbers from the novel and makes a list of them, the list is likely neither a copyright violation nor can it be copyrighted. Or a list of the first word of every paragraph for that matter, although the copyright holder could try to convince a jury that there was something original and creative about the words and their order, and financially harmful about its publication. I think they would lose.
Since “Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co.” effort is not a criterion for copyright. The work must be creative and original. An alphabetical list of English words probably falls below that threshold even though a dictionary containing even a subset of those words is well above it.
Of course, in the US you can sue anyone for anything, and even if you don’t care about winning you can still cause a lot of financial pain. The law doesn’t need to be on your side if the money is.
Eric J. Korpela /
npub1q7…c0lqn
2023-09-28 17:32:14
in reply to nevent1q…l3x4
Author Public Key
npub1q7npeuyya66tg8lnupg8z74x6ap59nkppu887z5z9cs22u8nsarqhc0lqnPublished at
2023-09-28 17:32:14Event JSON
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