On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 5:40 AM, Joshua Hutchinson <joshua@hutchinson.net> wrote:
Even Michael's "compilation" copyright example is a whole grey area that is best described as "Yes, but ..." It's hard to just put together pieces or public domain work and claim a new copyright.
Not really; compilations are well-protected under law. If you publish a book with the exact same 25 stories in the Mammoth Book of Vintage Whodunnits, you've violated their copyright. My problem is that Michael had little creative influence on the compilation; some 300 hundred of those books were mine, my choice of what to work on. Only a tiny fraction of PG's collection was chosen by any one person, so I don't think anyone can claim a compilation copyright on it. -- Kie ekzistas vivo, ekzistas espero.