NavList:

   

Reply

Johan Linner said-

>I keep wondering about the copyright of the design of the NA
>and such publications - none is mentioned in the paper volumes I have.


from George Huxtable.

The UK Nautical Almanac office, which is the origin for much of the
Nautical Almanac, is very jealous of its copyright, and my guess is that
they would consider that as applying to the layout and design as well as to
the data within.

If someone computes tables independently, not using Almanac Office data,
then as far as those numbers are concerned I would expect them to be free
of copyright (after all, nobody can copyright the motions of the universe).
But if he deliberately sets out to imitate the layout, I would expect them
to come down on him like a ton of bricks as soon as they find out.

My 2001 Nautical Almanac is the HMNAO version, and the USNO version may be
marginally different, but mine contains the following notice on page 2-

==============

"Copyright Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils 2000

This publication is protected by international copyright law. All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior
permission of Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office, an office of the
Council for the central laboratory of the research councils,, Rutherford
Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, United Kingdom.

The following United States Government work is excepted from the above
notice, and no copyright is claimed for it in the United States; cover,
title page and reverse, Preface, pages 6 and 7, pages 286 to 315."

================

That seems rather all-embracing. It would be illegal to send it by
semaphore, even.

It's not stated specifically that this applies to the layout and design,
but I suspect Johan would be on very dodgy ground if he deliberately tried
to copy that.

George.

================================================================
contact George Huxtable by email at george@huxtable.u-net.com, by phone at
01865 820222 (from outside UK, +44 1865 820222), or by mail at 1 Sandy
Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
================================================================

   

Reply