The individual points of interest contained in a Global Positioning System database were uncopyrightable facts, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held Dec. 14 (PhantomALERT, Inc. v. Google, Inc., N.D. Cal., 3:15-cv-03986-JCS, 12/14/15).
Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero said the traffic condition and speed trap information in the GPS app consisted of objectively discoverable facts, even to the extent it was intentionally seeded with false data to identify infringers.
The database as a whole is copyrightable as a compilation with at least modicum of creativity, the court said followingFeist Publ’ns Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, U.S.
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