FWD- lawsuit-compilations-Facts on the `net

[elisabeth roche]

>Return-path: <net-lawyers at lawlib.wuacc.edu>
>Date: Wed, 22 Nov 1995 18:33:20 -0600
>From: curtisra at best.com (Curtis Rau) (by way of Lewis Rose <curtisra at best.com>)
>Subject: Facts on the `net
>Sender: net-lawyers at lawlib.wuacc.edu
>To: Multiple recipients of list <net-lawyers at lawlib.wuacc.edu>
>Errors-to: lewrose at arentfox.com
>Reply-to: net-lawyers at lawlib.wuacc.edu
>Originator: net-lawyers at lawlib.wuacc.edu
>X-Listprocessor-version: 6.0a -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
>
>[moderator's note:  all followups to Mr. Rau directly].
>
>I have been lurking on this group for several months now, and I have
>privately exchanged E with many of you regarding individual issues.
>
>Now, I have started to assist with the case listed below.  I think that it
>may be a fairly important case.  I encourage you to respond to it, discuss
>it, etc.  Not only am I interested in feedback on the legal issues, I am
>also interested to hear how cases like this will affect the internet
>community.  Finally, please feel free to comment on the wisdom of "trial by
>internet."
>
>Curtis Rau
>
>**************************************************************************
>
>    Free use of FACTS on the Internet in Jeopardy
>
>My name is Edwin Rutsch and I am the founder of a small home office-based
>Internet service business located in the Berkeley/El Cerrito, CA area.   My
>company,  wyp.net (World Yellow Pages Network)  is involved in an issue
>which has major implications for the free use of facts on the Internet, and
>which will affect major on-line and CD-ROM database companies such as
>Lexis-Nexis, Nynex,  Dialog, Compuserve, the phone companies, Yellow Page
>publishers, etc.
>
>In its 1991 Feist decision, the Supreme Court ruled that fact compilations
>are not copyrightable and can be freely used.  Their reasoning was that the
>act of compiling facts (such as Yellow Pages) is not a creative act, and
>that the purpose of copyright law is to protect creativity.  The Supreme
>Court also threw out the concept that fact compilations are protected by
>"Sweat of the Brow".  Prior to the Feist decision, the lower courts had
>protected fact compilations based on the fact that the act of compiling
>them had entailed a lot of hard work.
>
>With the Feist decision in mind, wyp.net has used Yellow Page facts (name,
>address, telephone #) from an existing yellow and white page CD-ROM fact
>compilation and placed them on the World Wide Web in our own database.
>Wyp.net has provided every business with a free web page and the option of
>adding information about themselves to our Oracle database.
>
>Pro CD, the company that produces the CD-ROM, has sent myself and wyp.net a
>"cease and desist letter," and I believe a summons for an attempt at a
>preliminary injunction against us is imminent.
>
>Upon receipt of the "cease and desist letter," I did some research on the
>web and discovered that another company, Silken Mountain of Madison, WI had
>also used the data from the Pro CD CD-ROM fact compilation.  Pro CD had won
>a preliminary injunction against them in Federal District Court in Madison,
>WI, and had totally shut them down.  Matt Zeidenberg, owner of Silken
>Mountain, told me that his Internet access provider was also charged in the
>injunction and has declared bankruptcy.  My understanding is that the judge
>ruling on the case did not clearly understand that Silken Mountain did not
>use Pro CD's software, but had used only facts from their CD-ROM.  Matt,
>who is a Computer Science grad student at the University of Wisconsin at
>Madison, says he now has five lawyers working Pro Bono on the case.
>
>In addition to the Feist decision, another issue brought up by this case is
>the issue of "shrink wrap" licenses.  Some companies are trying to restrict
>the use of facts by saying that they are licensing facts to users (an idea
>which we feel is of dubious nature, and which we believe will not hold up
>in court).  If such licenses were upheld, phone companies would be able to
>"shrink wrap" and license the phone books which are themselves the source
>of facts that Pro Cd compiles on their CD-ROM. To take it even farther, if
>such licenses were upheld, one could "shrink wrap" and require licensing on
>everything he or she said, and web sites could put up "shrink wrap"
>licenses to restrict the use of facts made available on their sites.
>
>Wyp.net is going public with this case. We are setting up a web site called
>TRIAL BY INTERNET with all the available pertinent information at the
>following URL: http://wyp.net/save-the-facts/.  Anyone who would like to
>contribute information, links to relevant articles, court cases,  articles
>on the subject, comments, etc., can place them there.  We will soon have a
>chat room set up and a separate listserv for the subject.  As mentioned
>previously, this case has major implications for owners of large on-line
>and CD-ROM databases, ie.  Lexis-Nexis, Nynex, phone companies, Dialog,
>Compuserv, Yellow Page publishers, etc.  We plan to fight this issue to the
>end.  In addition, we plan to push the issue to the maximum by adding the
>Canadian Yellow Pages and those of other countries in the near future.
>Our Counsel is Larry Townsend of Owen Wickersham & Erickson in San
>Francisco, Californa.
>
>Our situation illustrates the power of the World Wide Web and the Home
>Office.  Although we are currently a small company working out of a home
>office, we are taking on all the phone companies and existing Yellow Page
>publishers.  We are setting this up with a group consisting of interns from
>UC Berkeley, local graphic artists, etc.  Whereas Nynex charges from $100
>to $3,000  for up to four web pages on its on-line Yellow Pages, we are
>giving one page free to every business in the USA and, before long, to
>every business in Canada.
>
>      wow      amazing
>                 _  ,/|
>      \\//      '\`o.O'      incredible          ?
>      ~ ~        =(_ _)=       \|/           \\\|///
>      @ @          |U|         ^ ^          \\ ~ ~ //       '''
>       *         /  | \      ( O O )        (/ @ @ /)      (- -)
>_oOO_(===)_OOo___/_|__\___.ooO__U__Ooo.___oOOo_( )_oOOo_oOO_(_)_OOo_
>                                               ( )
>===============================================(_)==================
>                         wyp.net
>                World Yellow Pages Network
>        A full service web development company
>  Search our database of over 12 million business listings
>We offer a free web page to every business and organization in America.
>
>     go for it                         --- __0
>                  __          __*   ---- _`\<,_
>   ---- __@      __  -      _-\<'_      (*)/ (*)
> ---- _`\<,_       -       (*)/ (*)
>     (*)/ (*)
>
>         Edwin Rutsch             World Yellow Pages Network
>
> tel:510-524-4495     e-mail:edwinr at wyp.net      http://wyp.net
>====================================================================
>
>                \=/,         _-===-_-====-_-===-_-==========-_-====-_
>                |  @___oo   (               Curtis Rau                )_
>      /\  /\   / (___,,,}_--=                                          )
>     ) /^\) ^\/ _)        =__       Hastings College of the Law         )
>     )   /^\/   _)          (_                                           )
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