Ever have the joy of describing the winning touchdown of the big game to that one friend who missed out on the broadcast? According to the NFL, such descriptions are a violation of copyright.
Listen closely right before the commercials and you will find yourself being told that not only are unauthorised reproductions a no-no, but so are “…descriptions and accounts of the game”. What?? Apparently talking about something is akin to stealing it in the eyes of some broadcasters. Fortunately, according to the folks at publicdomainsherpa.com, media owners exaggerate copyright claims all the time, and alas, “facts aren’t copyrightable”. The gods of common sense prevail.
light487
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 8:32 AMWell of course they are referring to write-ups in commercial media publications and almanacs etc reproducing the events of the game(s) in written form for commercial gain.
Blake
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9:31 AMIf they’re still facts, they’re still not copyrightable.
Will
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11:11 PMCopyright law protects the EXPRESSION of an idea/information/event, not the idea/information/event itself.
At least in Australia, I don’t know about the US of Dumb.
There is case law in this country that prevents situations like that – for example if a Newspaper publishes a story before any other newspaper that doesn’t mean that NO other newspaper can publish it.
jeremy
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:19 AMBasically the lawyers that wrote that should be reported for professional misconduct (bringing the profession of the law into disrepute) or simple professional incompetence (failure to show a basic knowledge of the law) – legal registration bodies are a great place to start :-) Any media outlet can report the facts, though not video or images taken from the grounds. They can also stop you from reporting at the ground on the simple expedient that you presence there is “at thier invitation”, but re-reporting facts from broadcast TV or radio is definitely not covered by copyright, even if done “live”. Care most however be taken not to repeat commentary – for example the content of interviews.