Case re "fair use" of data publicly available on the Internet
Article:Jupitermedia Tuesday said it sent cease and desist letters to online news and data aggregator eMarketer, ordering the company to discontinue using research from Jupitermedia in eMarketer reports sold in France and the UK. The two companies are already embroiled in a similar lawsuit in the United States and some observers believe the outcome could help determine what constitutes "fair use" of data that is publicly available on the Internet...
eMarketer's legal counsel Patrick added that Jupitermedia also extrapolates data from outside sources, synthesizes, and publishes data in essentially the same way eMarketer does.
He underlined the two main issues that the U.S. District Court judge has to resolve:
1) Does Jupitermedia have any proprietary interest in data that appears on eMarketer's Web site
2) does that constitute copyright infringement, or is it fair use?
Doug Wood, executive partner of law firm Reed Smith Hall Dickler said, "It's a toss-up; there's a little of everything in this case," but noted that it is by no means unique. He mentioned there have been several similar cases throughout the years, but the outcomes have gone both ways. "The Internet does throw a bit of a wrinkle into the analysis," Wood said. "Difficult, time-consuming research that could have taken a lifetime to complete can now be accomplished in an hour...
Wood also noted that, "judges don't like people who take the fruit of other people's labors." On the other hand, he acknowledged that eMarketer could argue that it interprets Jupiter data and turns it into another form of expression. "This is not a black letter law case," Wood said. "Questions of intellectual property, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment are always far more complex." He added that the court will most likely make its ruling based on the economic equities involved."
posted by Jen @ 2:51 pm
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