Re: Non-free files in source packages?

[Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com>]

Lewis Jardine <debian@catbox.co.uk> writes:

> In the case of data tables, in many jurisdictions, a mere collection of 
> facts is not copyrightable; the classic example is a telephone directory 
> (everything in it is an uncreative fact; that there are thousands of 
> them, which may have taken a lot of effort to gather, is immaterial).
>
> It may be the case that the data could be plucked from the RFC and 
> freely distributed, albeit only in places that don't allow 'sweat of the 
> brow' copyrights.

I know I answered this already, but I thought I'd add that
licensing@gnu.org suggested that the tables from RFC 3454 might not be
copyrightable, because they lack the creativity required for
copyright.  So to take the example of libidn, which extract tables
from 3454, this could mean it could stay in Debian anyway, I think.
They mentioned 'sweat of the brow' though.  Which jurisdictions allow
for that kind of copyright?  Do Debian worry about those
jurisdictions?

Thanks,
Simon