[pianotech] Steinway parts list

[david at piano.plus.com]

As I mentioned before, what is copyright, is the TYPOGRAPHICAL ARRANGEMENT
of the list of parts and prices.  That is what constitutes the "original
work" that exists.

There is no copyright in the fact that a given flange costs a given price.
 But to make a typographical arrangement of  parts listed against prices,
takes skill and judgement to at least some degree.  A "work" has then come
into existence that is protected automatically by copyright.

Thus, it is illegal to scan and put up on a website, pages from Pierce.
But there is no copright in the mere INFORMATION that given serial numbers
relalte to specific dates, no matter how much effort it took the original
compiler of Pierce to find out that information. SO you could arrange that
information in a new form and put that on your website, quite legally.

(There was an interesting case in the US a few years ago about telephone
directories).

But the issue with the Steinway list really isn't much about copyright.
It's more about ethical business dealing in other respects.

Best regards,

David Boyce


>
> Here is a quote from a company that sells books and gives advice on
> copyright materials.
>
> "Copyrightable material must be original and contain a minimal level of
> creativity. Generally, works that have not been fixed in a tangible form
> of expression are not eligible for copyright protection.
> Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, titles, names, slogans,
> procedures, methods, concepts, principles, and discoveries, although it
> may protect the way these things are expressed. This is because copyright
> protects the form of expression and not the underlying idea or subject
> matter."
>
> I don't know, did it take a certain amount of creativity to produce the
> price list, and is it considered "intellectual property?"
>
> Wim