Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
"But this was held to be sufficient to create an original copyright work as it had required a high degree of skill and labour; it was not merely servile copying. Precisely where the borderline between the two lies is sure to be the subject of future cases."
An interesting case. I revise my opinion. In UK law it seems that you might be able to bring a case for copyright infringement with some hope of winning it. But it would be a large gamble, so you'd need to be sure the potential reward was worth the risk.
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UK copyright law has in the past upheld the idea of
Sweat of the Brow, (the classic example being a telephone directory) whereby skill and perseverance could result in a claim of copyright protection, even without originality, but recent rulings have gone against the idea. In November 2015 the UK's Intellectual Property Office said in a ruling on the matter:
Quote:
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... according to the Court of Justice of the European Union which has effect in UK law, copyright can only subsist in subject matter that is original in the sense that it is the author’s own ‘intellectual creation’.
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That was in a case where someone claimed copyright having put a great deal of time and expertise into producing digital versions of public domain images. Their claim was rejected.
"Sweat of the brow" was rejected in the US by a 1991 ruling of the Supreme Court.