Copyright

[David Boyce]

>From COPYRIGHT LAW OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Chapter 1, par 103 (b):

§ 103. Subject matter of copyright: Compilations and derivative works
(b) The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the 
material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the 
preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive 
right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent 
of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or 
subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.



Israel, the fact that Pierce dug up, even with great effort, the information 
that a given piano was made on a given date, does not mean that he owns that 
information. What he DOES own, is rights regarding the particular style in 
which he has arranged that information on a page.

He also owns any prose of his that accompanies the number information in the 
book: "the material contributed by the author of such work (compilation), as 
distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work".

Even though Pierce may have worked hard to find out that a Baldwin grand of 
1890 had the number 3890, he does not own that information. (Which, by the 
way, I didn't get from Pierce - let Pierce sue me for giving that 
information here, if they will).

Best regards,

David.




"Nonsense. When the information is a result of extensive research, it is a 
work product that is given copyright protection. Especially when the 
resources on which the information is based are no longer extant (as is true 
in the case of most US piano manufacturers.) Most of the  records and the 
people from where/whom the information originally came are no longer around, 
since the demise of the US piano industry...  So Pierce is probably the sole 
source for most of this information...

And it is quite easy to file a copyright infringement suit. And the evidence 
is right here in the list archives. And then you need to defend the suit - 
because if you don't, then there is a default judgement entered, and the 
statutory fines are $750 to $30,000 per instance. So you do the math..."