Can a price list be protected by copyright?
They can be according to the Court in CDN Inc. v. Kapes. [*1]
What happened in CDN?
CDN published a weekly report that lists wholesale prices for collectible United States coins. This newsletter included prices for almost all collectible coins and was used extensively by coin dealers.
Kenneth Kape had a coin business and regularly received calls about the retail price of coins. Using CDN’s report on wholesale coin prices, he created a computer program that generated a list of retail coin prices. He published these retail prices on his website.
CDN sued.
What did CDN argue?
CDN argued that the wholesale coin prices in their weekly report are protected by copyright. They claimed that Kapes infringed on CDN’s copyrights because he used the CDN wholesale price to create his retail list.
What did the Court say?
The Court agreed. Copyright law requires the work to be original. “In order to warrant protection, compilation and other works must contain a minimal amount of originality or creativity.” The Court said that originality was apparent in how CDN created their pricing data.
CDN’s prices were original because they exercised judgment and creativity in determining what information matters to make their price lists. CDN looked at whether the coin was graded by a professional service and reviewed online bids. They looked at public auctions and private sales, and even effects on the economy and foreign policies.
CDN did not republish data from another source or use a set formula to generate the prices.
What does this mean?
This case shows that originality and judgment matter to earn a copyright in a compilation. If you use your judgment in putting together compilations, then it is more likely the compilation is protected by copyright. If your compilation is based on pure facts, then it is unlikely that it will be protected by copyright.
[*1] CDN Inc. v. Kapes, 197 F.3d 1256 (9th Cir. 1999)
