copyrightable vs. copyrighted (was Re: databases not copyrightable in the USA)

[Martin Dickopp <martin-deb@zero-based.org>]

"Humberto Massa" <humberto.massa@almg.gov.br> writes:

> In another topic, I prefer the term "copyrighted". "Copyrightable" is
> an ugly, ugly term... and everything that is copyrightable is
> copyrighted by default...

I see a fine distinction between the two terms.  For example, a work
created by the U.S. government is not copyrighted.  It may, however, be
copyrightable, i.e. if another entity had created it, this entity would
have had the copyright w.r.t. the work.

(IANAL, IANADD)

Martin