RE: [dvd-discuss] Stores claim pricelists covered by DMCA

["Roy Murphy" <murphy(at)panix.com>]

'Twas brillig when Richard M. Hartman scrobe:
>Lists of objective data are not copyrightable, IIRC.

It's a little more complicated than that. I read a case involving Beanie Baby
price gudes where it was held that the actual price estimates in the guides
were copywritable since they represented the judgement of the compilators and
not objective facts. They probably meet the minimal standards for creative content
set in Feist. In the case of these retailers, the prices are created by them
and they could probably use a similar line of argument especially in a pre-publication
context. These were prices which were in the process of being published (they
were leaks from printed circulars which had been printed but not distributed
to the public) but had not yet been published. The right of first publication
is a right which is well protected by the courts because of the potential for
irreparable harm.

Once they have been published, I think the case for publishing some of them
as a fair use is stronger, but that probably dosn't permit the publication of
the price list in its entirety.
 
-- 
Roy Murphy      \ CSpice -- A mailing list for Clergy Spouses
murphy@panix.com \  http://www.panix.com/~murphy/CSpice.html