[Bell Historians] proto-National Bell Register work

[John Camp]

At 06:01 on 08 October 2005, Mark Humphreys wrote:

> But it [the Court of Appeal's decision in Hyperion v Sawkins] does
> cover a lot of 'transcription' law (the case of the shorthand
> journalists, for example) which would be relevant in this case.

Sorry to disagree. The Hyperion case is about what constitutes music
and what constitutes an original musical work. It has nothing at all
to do with the question of infringement in a compilation, which is
what we are talking about. Lord Justice Mummery said, quite
specifically, that the case was *not* about copyright in a
compilation. The 'case of the shorthand journalists', to which Mark
refers and which was cited in Hyperion, was decided by the House of
Lords in 1900 and was about whether shorthand writers’ reports of
public speeches made by Lord Rosebery constituted original literary
works.

The fact that Mark is, as he says, 'au fait' with the Hyperion case
doesn't make it relevant to the question of copyright in things like
'Dove'.

I expect this list has had enough on this topic, so I'll stop.

John Camp