Open Geodata in Europe - Inspire directive

[David Gibson]

In article "Open Geodata in Europe - Inspire directive" in <!cave-
surveying>, on Mon, 15 May 2006
Andy Waddington <surveys at pennine.demon.co.uk> wrote

>Isn't copyright a result of "publication" - even if that means making
>the data available within a closed community ?

<PATIENTLY> No. copyright is a protection against *copying*. 
Why is it so difficult for people to understand that?!

>It would appear that the law is an ass and that it has an unreasonable
>definition of the term "literary work".

<SLIGHTLY LESS PATIENTLY> The definition is entirely reasonable because
it is one that is simple, easy to understand, and easy to embody in an
act of parliament. It is up to the courts to decide exactly *how*
literary your work is, and on the subsequent redress you would receive
for a breach of your rights.

In this, and all our previous discussions, Andy, you seem to be trying
to adopt a very rigid logic, expecting the Act to state exact
circumstances and redresses. This seems to be rather a blinkered
attitude, even for the logical mind of a computer programmer. But if I
call you a silly old fool, the libel laws do not prescribe exact
consequences. Instead, the courts have to decide how silly you are, how
old and how foolish. Copyright is like that too, so all your arguments
about writing addresses on envelopes and hacking into data-loggers are
utterly pointless. Why do you insist on wasting everyone's time with
them?  OK. cos you like winding me up, and I like winding you up :-)

-- 
David Gibson