[pianotech] Steinway parts list

[Delwin D Fandrich]

David, 

It goes beyond the simple typographical arrangement of a list, I think. You
mentioned the Yellow Pages case of a few years back. True, a list of
publicly available information cannot be copyrighted as such but, if memory
serves, it is also the case that a list compiled by one company--Company
X--cannot simply be copied, scanned, or whatever and then reformatted and
distributed by another--Company Y. Consequently, Company X routinely seeds
their lists with tell-tales--imaginary listings of non-existent persons--so
they can analyze Company Y's lists to find out if Company Y had simply
copied their list of phone numbers (for example) illegally from Company X's
published work. Company Y has to gather their own information independently
of Company X's published list; then they are free to publish their own list
based on the information they have gathered as the result of their own work.
Even if the two end up being identical.

So, if I wanted to publish my own version of the Pierce Piano Atlas I'd have
to go back to company records and compile my own lists of pianos and their
manufactured dates; I couldn't simply copy them from the existing Pierce
Piano Atlas, change the page design and formatting and publish my own book.

ddf

Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Design & Fabrication
6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA
Phone  360.515.0119 — Cell  360.388.6525
del at fandrichpiano.com — ddfandrich at gmail.com

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of david at piano.plus.com
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 3:02 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Steinway parts list

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