I just posed a question on the sunlightlabs api group (ok to push data sets and APIs to Freebase.com? – Sunlight Labs API Discussion | Google Groups):
My question is whether it's ok for me to upload some of the data I can get from http://services.sunlightlabs.com/api/ to freebase.com. Freebase then makes its collection of data available under a variety of licenses, including the CC-BY license (http://www.freebase.com/signin/licensing) .
I don't see any restrictions in the ToS against doing so. Moreover, I don't see any statement of how the data is licensed — if at all. What statement of copyright is there?
I'll update here on what I hear back.
Raymond Yee | 02-Mar-09 at 3:41 pm | Permalink
Response from James Turk:
Scott Blomquist | 03-Mar-09 at 9:45 pm | Permalink
One other thing to keep in mind here is that while a specific selection and arrangement of facts (e.g. "best of" lists and other works that require the work of an editor, or collections of facts that require painstaking unique research to compile) can be protected by copyright, facts in general are not protectable.
As usual, an attorney should be involved if you have specific questions. But a good rule of thumb is that if two editions of a compilation of data would be identical fact-for-fact, the facts are probably fine for inclusion in Freebase. Even better if two compilations already exist that match (for example if wikipedia and IMDB agree about a movie's cast list).