Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: 3 new "very large" English dictionaries are now online

On 24/11/2012 at 00:01, Larry Gusaas <larry.gusaas@gmail.com> wrote:

> Every book, essay, article, etc. written is just words.

Copyrighted are not words per se, but very specific order of these that creates 
unique work. And, going further, ideas submitted in these words.
Or ideas in general, since they can be expressed through painting, music, 
performance and other means.

> Any dictionaries I
> have looked at are copyrighted, included the ones that are distributed in
> LibreOffice.

Still - this is unique work that is copyrighted, not language.
Unless there are certain mistakes copied, you can't really prove that 
dictionary was "plagiarized". Take few dictionaries from different publishing 
houses. There will be large parts that are exactly the same. Can one 
publishing house sue other for "plagiarism"? None will dare. After all, they 
both "plagiarized" large parts of some older dictionaries.

In printed dictionaries, there is also typographical layout that is 
copyrighted. But this is not language.

Copyrighting words just does not make sense. And since words can not be 
copyrighted, they can not be plagiarized.
It's unique work that can be plagiarized, but in regards of dictionaries 
proving that something isn't unique work is almost impossible. After all, this 
is just a list of words that people already use (does "prior art" ring a bell 
here?).
And please don't confuse copyright with trademark. Common words may be part of 
trademark.
-- 
Best regards
Mirosław Zalewski

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