California Surveyors Forums

I've had a couple of surveyors contact me privately to express concern that my proposal for a map library might make me the subject of a lawsuit. (I think these people were motivated by their personal concern for me, and not by any desire to intimidate me.)

I thought it important to grab this bull by the horns.

I've done a good amount of research about copyright law and how it applies to not just survey maps, but geospatial data in general. Although there are likely some elements of a survey map that are protected by copyright law under certain circumstances, I think most surveyors would be surprised, as I was, to find out how little copyright protection our maps (unfiled or filed) enjoy. I don't want to get bogged down in those specific legal questions here. But these are some links to get interested surveyors pointed in the correct direction on this topic:

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/copy-corner49.htm
http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/ ... s1995.html
http://www.newyorkmapsociety.org/FEATURES/POST.HTM

Based on my understanding of the law, a person would have to prove the following points if he wanted to sucessfully sue me for copyright infringement based on my recent work with the map library:

1) That the map wasn't readily available any other means.
2) That the person bringing the lawsuit actually owned the copyright for the map in question.
3) That the map wasn't required to be filed in the public record under California law at the time it was produced.
4) That my inclusion of the map in the library didn't fall under allowed fair use.
5) That US copyright law actually afforeded enough protection to the map to allow for the lawsuit.
6) That my posting of the map in the library caused significant economic harm.

I strongly believe most holders of private surveyor maps from another surveyor would have an uphill battle in court on most, if not all of the above elements.

I know a lot of people (and organizations) get shaky knees when someone mentions the word "lawsuit". I haven't been deterred in this case. I believe what I've proposed and implemented is well within the bounds of the law. I hope if a fellow surveyor has concerns about a map or other document that get's posted to the new library they will contact me to discuss its removal and not drag me into court.

However: I believe the library I've proposed and set-up is important for the young men in my office that will be following in my footsteps, for my fellow California surveyors, and for the California land owners that I strive to serve and protect. If I need to beg and borrow money from friends and family to fight a copyright lawsuit related to the map library, then that is what I will do.

I'll mention it may not make a whole lot of sense to drag my worthless rear end into court. I only own a dog, a car and a house. The dog is lame in one leg and the car is worth way more than the house (and worth way less than I owe the bank on my mortgage).

I don't know what happened in Marin County. I know a hornet's nest has been stirred up there. I'm not trying to insert myself into the middle of that quagmire. I'm just trying to come up with a reasonable and pragmatic solution to a problem for all land surveyors. There is no reason why we can't do something like this with today's technology. It is way too cheap and easy.

I'm not going to be posting archives of unfiled maps wholesale to the library. I don't have the time for that, and that isn't the purpose. Every document that goes into the library will be indexed and cataloged. That takes time. This is going to happen one document at a time...

I've already clarified that I won't post the maps of living surveyors without their permission. If I suspect that a map is part of a private collection, I'll find out if I need to get permission from that surveyor before I add the map to the library. I'm not trying to destroy the value of anyone's private map collection.

We should all remember that there are a lot of old records lying around in back offices and attics that no one is taking care of. Those are the maps I'm trying to save with this effort.

Thanks.

Landon

Landon,

I have also researched the “copyright protectionâ€￾ our survey maps enjoy and came to same basic conclusions you did. The most important conclusion being that the person who acquired custody of a map has to also have acquired the original copyright along with the document, if (and that’s a big if) those documents were copyright protected. In the case of deceased or retired surveyors that is difficult if not impossible to accomplish for several reasons. Copyright protection has an expiration date. The copyright of most, if not all, of the documents your data base deals with has expired, if the maps enjoyed copyright in the first place.

Hopefully, over time, everyone will see the benefit of your efforts and voluntarily share these maps and documents as they are discovered.

Kudos for your efforts.

Add me to the list of surveyors who looked into copyright law and concluded that survey maps enjoy no practical protection thereunder. My interest was in recovering damages from unauthorized use of an ALTA for which I was never paid. I reluctantly concluded that I didn't have a leg to stand on, and gave up the effort.