Maybe, at least according to a recent article in the Maine Antiques Digest. The article describes a claim of copyright infringement in descriptions of coins found in numismatic dealer catalogs. In some cases the descriptions appear to be primarily factual, which should prevent them from being copyrighted. In other cases, though, the description is more expressive, and may warrant copyright protection.
It will be an interesting case to follow. If it reaches a decision, it should provide some guidance on how creative we must be in our catalog records before we can justifiably assert a copyright interest in them.
This is an issue which has been recently getting lots of discussion amongst certain techie-oriented online library communities.
Eg. http://blogs.talis.com/panlibus/archives/2007/04/any_clearer_on.php
Interestingly though, in those communities people hope that cataloging 'copy' is _not_ copyright protected!
Posted by: Jonathan Rochkind | April 30, 2007 at 10:45 AM