Two points to add: a) In practice the problem is that collecting data takes time, which means that various organisations pay people to gather it - and so also want some way to recoup their money. Hence, I've found the Plymouth University team very willing to share with me data from their local elections database in answer to specific queries, but they charge for their book each year because they need the revenue to pay for the people who gather the data.
b) ... However, there are others who have got the resources via other routes and so make data available for free; see http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Data/Data.htm (though the data set version 2.0 has some errors in it and I know a version 3 with corrections and extra information is on its way) - the data gathering for which was partly funded by a membership organisation for political scientists. Aloha, Mark On 18 May 2010 14:10, Rob McKinnon <[email protected]> wrote: > For clarification, it is European Union Directive 96/9/EC on the legal > protection of databases that creates two rights: > > (i) Copyright in the compilation > databases which, "by reason of the selection or arrangement of their > contents, constitute the author's own intellectual creation" are > protected by copyright as collections > > (ii) Database (sui generis) right > database rights specifically protect a "qualitatively and/or > quantitatively substantial investment in either the obtaining, > verification or presentation of the contents" > > For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_Directive > > Rob > > On 18 May 2010 12:49, Seb Bacon <[email protected]> wrote: >> Does it seem wrong to anyone else here with better legal understanding >> than me that the fixtures list is copyrightable? I can't put my >> finger on why it seems wrong to me, but it does. > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list [email protected] > Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: > https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public > _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
