[Lexicog] English-Vernacular dictionaries?

[John Roberts]

Allan,

I was interested to read what you said about having legal problems if you 
used a commercial dictionary, such as Collins-Cobuild, as a basis for an 
English-vernacular dictionary. I am not a lawyer but wouldn't it depend on 
how you used it? How far does the copyright extend? Copyright is defined as: 
"The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or 
distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a 
literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work." But does that include, for 
example, the senses and definitions in a Collins-Cobuild dictionary? For 
example, in the Collins-Cobuild I have "abandon" is given 7 senses. Does 
that mean that nobody else can produce an English dictionary with "abandon" 
having 7 senses without obtaining copyright permission from Collins? Sense 1 
is given as "If you abandon something such as a place or object, you leave 
it permanently or for a long time, especially because you do not want to 
look after it any longer." Is this sense of "abandon" now copyrighted to 
Collins? And what about the model that Collins-Cobuild follows for 
dictionary entries? They have:

headword or word group
     pronunciation
     inflectional forms and spellings
     explanations of meaning and use (definitions)
     examples (illustrative sentences)

which is a layout suitable for learners of English. It has the inflectional 
forms near the head of the entry and illustrative sentences. It is actually 
the layout of a Collins-Cobuild dictionary which would make it most suitable 
as a basis for an English-vernacular dictionary of the kind you have in 
mind. But is this dictionary model/layout also copyrighted to Collins? If it 
is then you won't be able to use it in setting up an English-vernacular 
dictionary as a "model" for others to use. Nor will you be able to use any 
dictionary model followed by a published English dictionary.

So I think it would be worth finding out from a copyright expert what you 
can and cannot use from a published English dictionary. I am sure they 
haven't copyrighted everything. If they have, you are pretty much sunk 
before you begin.

John Roberts




 
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