Use of copyrighted data.

[KNoble]

Can you provide some guidelines on the use of data, some of which is copyrighted, and some not, to create ratings and or tips for race horses.

Data such as the distance behind the winner, at the finish, is compiled by an organization who then sells this information which may then be published on several websites with free access to anyone.

Other data such as race distance, track condition are freely available and make up approximately 80% of the data used to derive ratings.

If the ratings are partially based on this data is this a breach of copyright.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Compilations of data may be copyrighted. But facts are facts - e.g. distance behind the winner is not a copyrightable fact - so there is no question you can use some of the data. Your usage is very specific and, without all the facts, it is impossible to tell you what may be an infringement of copyright. Typically there can be a copyright for a "compilation" of data. Here is a landmark case which should help - Feist v. Rural Telephone.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

From Wikipedia: Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991)[1], commonly called just Feist v. Rural, was a United States Supreme Court case in which Feist had copied information from Rural's telephone listings to include in its own, after Rural had refused to license the information. Rural had sued for copyright infringement. The Court ruled that information contained in Rural's phone directory was not copyrightable, and that therefore no infringement existed.

Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service Co. case is attached as a text document: