Was hoping someone could shed some light on a legal issue regarding what is and is not copyrightable. From what I recall of my college journalism course, a list that is not a creative endeavor – that can only be presented one way – is not copyrightable.
Onto the specifics. There’s a pay website out there that will update the depth chart for a college football team. Can another website copy that depth chart, since it’s not a creative endeavor? Or is it copyrighted material? I liken it to a batting order in baseball – you can’t truthfully submit it otherwise, so the first person to report it has no special claim on it.
To complicate matters, the pay website is run by the head coach of the team, to supplement the income of himself and his assistants. Does that make a difference, since one could make the case that his expertise is involved in putting together the depth chart? Or, to continue my analogy, would that be like a baseball manager claiming his batting order is copyrighted and can not be reproduced?
Any thoughts on this would be more than welcome, especially from those with experience in copyright decisions. I’m of the belief that since it’s merely a list and can only be presented in one way (and is not a creative endeavor) that copyright laws and plagiarism claims do not apply. Thanks in advance.