Oh! You're right, they're clear about that on their web page, as well. As Bryan points out. So, wait: A bunch of libraries could pool together, buy the Whole Enchilada for $28k, and put up a torrent? Or, put another way, for less than the base salary of a starting developer, *everyone* in the US could have access to this *massive* store of authority data and build Awesome Things? Think we could find a consortium that'd pony up? ;-) Cheers, -Nate PS - Dear rest of the world: you're on the honor system, OK? On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 4:36 PM, David Fiander <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > One of the most important pages in the print volumes of the Library of > Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), is the title page verso, which > includes publication and copyright details. The folks at LC very > clearly understand US copyright law, since on that page you can see > that they claim that the LCSH is copyright LC _outside of the United > States of America_. > > The same probably holds true for the copyright claim on the name > authority files. You folks in the United States can do what you will > with impunity, but us unwashed masses beyond your shores are likely to > get in trouble. Probably the next time we attempt to cross the border. > > - David > > On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 5:21 PM, Jason Griffey <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> As I mentioned, they are available from Ibiblio on the link above. The >> copyright claim is...well...specious at best. But no one really wants >> to be the one to go to court and prove it. They've been publicly >> available for more than a year now on the Fred 2.0 site, and they >> haven't been sued, to my knowledge. >> >> Jason >> >> >> On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 5:17 PM, Nate Vack <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >>> On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 3:49 PM, Bryan Baldus >>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >>> >>>> One way (as you likely know) (official, expensive) is via The Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service: >>> >>> Huh. They claim copyright of these records. I'd somehow thought: >>> >>> 1: The federal government can't hold copyrights >>> >>> 2: As purely factual data, catalog records are conceptually uncopyrightable >>> >>> Anyone who knows more about this than I do know if they're *really* >>> copyrighted, or if it's more of a "we're gonna try and say they're >>> copyrighted and hope no one ignores us"? >>> >>> Curious, >>> -Nate >>> >> >