Proprietary Database, Public Data and Copyright

In Assesment Technologies of WI, LLC v. WIREdata, Inc., the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that one may copy and access a copyrighted database in order to extract non-copyrightable public information from that database. For a unanimous three judge panel, Judge Posner writes:

This case is about the attempt of a copyright owner to use copyright law to block access to data that not only are neither copyrightable nor copyrighted, but were not created or obtained by the copyright owner. The owner is trying to secrete the data in its copyrighted program-- a program the existence of which reduced the likelihood that the data would be retained in a form in which they would have been readily accessible. It would be appalling if such an attempt could succeed.

(via How Appealing)

See also InfoToday discussing newsletter redistribution and databases: Intranet Publishers Beware!

Update:
Susan Crawford: Justly Irascible: A victory for rationality. And a warning to those who would use copyright claims to convert otherwise freely-available material into private property.

Elizabeth Rader: Judge Posner Chases A Wild Hare

How Appealing: 20 Questions for Judge Posner