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I checked online at WikiAnswers and this is what it said about
dictionary copyright.<br>
<br>
Q: What does a dictionary copyright include?<br>
<br>
A: It protects all of the copyrightable content: creative works, such
as
the particular selection and arrangement of the definitions, but not
the words or definitions themselves. So you can't photocopy the
dictionary, but you could (in theory) transcribe the factual
information, none of which is covered by copyright (in the USA).
<br>
<br>
So, Piotr is partially correct. If the dictionary has a particular
selection and arrangement of headwords then this is copyrighted. But
someone else could take this selection of headwords and definitions and
arrange them differently or add to them or reduce them and this would
not infringe copyright law (in the USA, at least). However, I think
"particular selection and arrangement" means something like where the
Jacaranda Dictionary of Melanesian Pidgin has a main dictionary plus a
section of "word groups" including schoolroom terms, anatomical terms,
medical terms, fish/fishing terms, animal/insect/hunting terms,
doctrinal terms, biblical terms, etc. This selection of word groups
would be copyrighted and the way the main entries in the dictionary are
arranged would be copyrighted but the set of headwords in the main
dictionary would not be subject to copyright. If this were so then
nobody else could produce a dictionary of Tok Pisin. But I don't think
"particular selection and arrangement" means a set of words that you
collected in a certain way and arranged in a dictionary, which is what
Piotr has in mind. Since the words and definitions of those words are
in the public domain and not subject to copyright.<br>
<br>
John Roberts<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
� wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4B297EC3.3020100@o2.pl" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hello Ron and All,
Ronald Moe writes:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">You cannot copyright the words of a language. So you can use the headwords
from a copyrighted dictionary. But you should fix spelling errors, add new
words, omit archaic words, etc. Otherwise the copyright owner of the old
dictionary might very well complain on moral principles if not legal ones.
You can copyright definitions, example sentences, and other descriptions. If
the older dictionary is still in print, you cannot use the descriptions
without permission.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
You cannot copyright words, but surely, you can copyright a particular
selection of headwords, as a collection of data that you yourself
created and that reflects your particular approach to the description of
the language at hand. This goes for old, hand-assembled dictionaries as
well as for new ones, especially if they are based on your corpus that
you composed yourself, together with the lexical-word/token-frequency
cut-off point that you assumed, and with your decision of what other
headwords to include beside those that have made it above the frequency
threshold.
In other words, taking over someone's set of headwords alone (in order
to e.g. provide translations in a language different from the original
L2) surely does count as copyright infringement, does it not? Even if
you fix spelling errors and possibly remove a subset of headwords (e.g.
swearwords, proper names, etc.).
Hmm, it's hard to believe that something like that hasn't happened yet
-- perhaps some such precedents have already been recorded (?)
Best regards,
Piotr
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
John R Roberts
SIL International Linguistics Consultant
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dr_john_roberts@sil.org">dr_john_roberts@sil.org</a>
+44 (0)1494 510084
"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding."
Proverbs 4.7
</pre>
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