Chapter 5 Copyright Law Issues in Modern Cartography

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the copyright law issues in modern cartography. The discussions in this chapter are based on the general principles of intellectual property—particularly copyright—where appropriate, specific reference is made to the international copyright law conventions, as well as to the laws of specific countries, primarily the U.S. and Canada. Copyright issues in relation to the map are examined in the chapter and it also deals with copyright in relation to data (as well as databases).) Copyright in many countries arises automatically upon the creation of an “original” work in a “fixed” form. In fact, automatic protection is a requirement for all Berne member countries. Originality generally means that the work is not substantially derived from another source. Publication is not generally a requirement for obtaining copyright protection. In many cases, an author initially owns a copyright work; for a map, the cartographer who created the map would own it.