1. Copyright Law: Feist & Databases
Jody Blanke, Professor
Computer Information Systems and Law
Mercer University, Atlanta

2. Copyright Law Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries

3. Copyright Act of 1976 Section 102 of the Copyright Act:
“In no case does copyright protection … extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied …”

4. Feist v. Rural (1991) Major Supreme Court copyright case
Refocused attention on constitutional threshold requirement:
Originality
Work must be independently created by the author, i.e., the originator
Work must have some minimal degree of creativity, “some creative spark”

5. Facts Feist wanted to publish statewide phone directory of Kansas
Licensed 10 of 11 regional directories
Rural refused license
Feist copied anyway (including 3 bogus listings)

6. Holding Facts are not copyrightable
Compilations of facts are copyrightable as long as there is some originality in the selection or arrangement of the facts
Here, alphabetization could not have been any less creative – no originality
Copyright protects “originality” not “sweat of the brow”

7. Databases Copyright protection for factual compilations is thin
There may be protection for “original” compilation and/or for constituent materials
“Creative” or “Non-Creative” compilations of “Creative” or “Non-Creative” works (see Table)