In particular, what if I copyright all facts concerning myself and refuse to grant any company a license? Surely no entity could have a better claim to their "authorship". Say hello to free unlisted telephone numbers.
You'll have a heck of a time convincing a judge of that.
Consider you've had at least one credit card for the last 25 years and you've spent, on average, $1000 a year on it. That's $25,000. Assume all credit cards are now paid off.
Consider, if you will, all the checks you've written. If you've written $10,000 a year worth of checks for 25 years, that's $250K.
Unless you have reciepts for all of these transactions, especially the cash ones, organized in a logical system of some sort, you have no database
It may or may not be a stupid piece of legislation, but that assertion is ridiculous. It would protect small businesses, non-profits, and any other database owner equally so long as they have put considerable effort (note the "or" between "financial resources" and "time") into creation of the database.
Once it gets to the courts and the lawyer money starts flying, then it might end up favoring big business de facto, but that a weakness of the courts process, not the l
It depends a very great deal on what a court decides "considerable effort" or "fincancial resources" are, and it may very well, particularly in a case by an individual against a corporation, side with the corporation simply because there were MORE resources put into it - if XYZ Corp spent 10 million and 10 man-years on it's database, you're going to have a hard time finding an individual who can meet that same standard. The wording of the bill makes it pretty clear to me that its mainly intended for use by
It's a shame to see a legal document with such vague terms. Issues like this keep trial lawyers in business!! Is substantial relative and to what? $1000 may not be substantial to a big 5 marketing firm but that would be a substantial amount for me to spend on data collection. Assuming a company profits $10 million a year and they spend $10k on data for a report, that would be the same as an individual making $50k/year spending $500. If the court does not assume "substantial" as a relative term, then this
In particular, what if I copyright all facts concerning myself and refuse to grant any company a license? Surely no entity could have a better claim to their "authorship". Say hello to free unlisted telephone numbers. Except for the telephone provider.:)
Well there is one problem with the phone number thing. The phone company doesn't have to sell you service unless you agree to their terms, and if their terms state that they can publish your number then thats that.
BUT other information like your home address or in many cases your email address is, what I believe, your proprietary information. If some company (spam or whatever) includes your address in something they sell and they have not licensed it then they are stealing from you. If "company a" sell
"Be there. Aloha."
-- Steve McGarret, _Hawaii Five-Oh_
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Quick question: does it have to be a corporation owning the database, or can it be a private individual?
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(1) the database was generated, gathered, or maintained through a substantial expenditure of financial resources or time;
...then you might have a case. This is meant to protect big business.
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You'll have a heck of a time convincing a judge of that.
Consider you've had at least one credit card for the last 25 years and you've spent, on average, $1000 a year on it. That's $25,000. Assume all credit cards are now paid off.
Consider, if you will, all the checks you've written. If you've written $10,000 a year worth of checks for 25 years, that's $250K.
Unless you have reciepts for all of these transactions, especially the cash ones, organized in a logical system of some sort, you have no database
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My Wife's gonna be upset about this.
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It may or may not be a stupid piece of legislation, but that assertion is ridiculous. It would protect small businesses, non-profits, and any other database owner equally so long as they have put considerable effort (note the "or" between "financial resources" and "time") into creation of the database.
Once it gets to the courts and the lawyer money starts flying, then it might end up favoring big business de facto, but that a weakness of the courts process, not the l
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Re:Question.... (Score:2)
Is substantial relative and to what? $1000 may not be substantial to a big 5 marketing firm but that would be a substantial amount for me to spend on data collection. Assuming a company profits $10 million a year and they spend $10k on data for a report, that would be the same as an individual making $50k/year spending $500. If the court does not assume "substantial" as a relative term, then this
Re:Question.... (Score:2)
Except for the telephone provider.
Re:Question.... (Score:2, Insightful)
BUT other information like your home address or in many cases your email address is, what I believe, your proprietary information. If some company (spam or whatever) includes your address in something they sell and they have not licensed it then they are stealing from you. If "company a" sell