> somehow "owns" its archive
It does own its archive. They just may not own the exclusive copyright to the contents of the archive... there is a subtle distinction.
It does own its archive. They just may not own the exclusive copyright to the contents of the archive... there is a subtle distinction.
They do own the right to the composition of their collection, so someone who got the whole collection would be liable to infringing their right on the composition of the collection; in contrast, a random sample of articles would infringe on the publishers' IP rights rather than J-STOR's.
The subtle point is that J-STOR is absolutely not interested in the original copyright owners having to hunt down abusers, because that would (in all likelihood) appear like an additional, avoidable hassle to the latter and would make them less likely to agree to have J-STOR distribute their content. [edit: apparently it's the US Attorney General more than J-STOR who is pushing this case forward]
In comparison: if someone sneaks into a cinema to see a movie, you would accuse him of cheating them of the entrance fee, and not of "stealing the movie". If someone sneaks into a cinema and uses his camcorder to record the movie, he is cheating the movie theater of the entrance fee and misappropriating the production company's movie (with the suspicion that he might pirate it later), but he did not steal the movie from the theater. That would involve something like walking away with the movie theater's copy of the movie, which would fulfill the criterion that what's stolen is not there afterwards.
Misappropriation of IP is not stealing. It's unauthorized copying - that certainly has the potential to harm the bottomline of the copyright owner, but with an impact that is much harder to quantify than the stealing of an actual physical thing.
IP owners and friends of them who use the word 'stealing' want to frame the situation in such a way that appeal to the nonexistence of monetary loss is excluded - mostly because these same owners are investors in, and not creators of, the IP and do not have any other perspective than squeezing whatever value they can out of their investment.
(The authors of the original articles probably couldn't care less about some punk illegally downloading their texts, because they don't see any money from it anyways).
This was the point I was trying to make.
They own their database, even if they don't own the articles in it. The GP poster was trying to claim that they didn't "own their archive".
Is this a right recognized under US law?
http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat092303.html
Excerpt: In the terminology of the copyright law, a database is a “compilation.” The Copyright Act defines a compilation as “a work formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data....” (1) Compilations were protected as “books” as early as the Copyright Act of 1790.
(a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.
(b) The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hyi.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
I didn't know this. It's as if the New York Times told paid subscribers they can only read 90% of any one issue.
Compilation copyright only applies to compilations where some creativity is employed in selecting the items to be included. There is no "sweat of the brow" database right under US law. JSTOR almost certainly does not have a compilation copyright on their collection, since any creativity being employed in selection is being employed by the journals they archive, not JSTOR employees.
At any rate, the indictment does not include any charges of copyright infringement.