Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Washington
Copyright & ''Facts''???
From a writer's perspective, I was wondering... since ''facts'' cannot be copyrighted and true-life book(s) were written on a subject or person, can anyone use those facts from the book(s) as long as the ''written expression'' is not copied word for word?
Does that also apply to ''facts'' on copyrighted websites?
Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Copyright & ''Facts''???
Facts themselves are not copyrightable, but collections of facts are. For example, telephone numbers and addresses are not copyrightable, but a telephone book is. The copyrightable element being the organization of the facts.
Thus, you must be careful in your use. You can use facts, but you cannot merely paraphrase the other work. You must be the author of an original expression if you are to avoid a claim of infringement. You should also give appropriate credit to your source material, otherwise you will be plagerizing.
If you have any doubt about the legality of the new work, you should have an attorney who specializes in the field review the work.
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