[NUUG kart] Importing GNS data for Svalbard

[Edward Welbourne]

> On the maps and databases published by The Norwegian Polar Institute, I have
> found no copyright information. Most of the data also seems to be avaialable
> in a number of formats. Does this indicvate, that we here have something as
> rare as a Norwegian Public Domain datasource?

Sadly not, unless you can establish that the data were published,
without a copyright notice, before these became incidental.  One of the
last half century's many rounds of expanding the scope of copyright law
made it the case that anything eligible for copyright gets it
automatically regardless of whether there is any notice asserting
copyright, telling you anything about how to contact rights holders or
giving you any clue as to when the copyright shall expire.  Lack of a
copyright notice no longer implies public domain.

If you can find maps published, without copyright notices, before those
changes came in, they're public domain; however, proving that may be
fiddly, as you have to establish the date of publication, despite the
lack of a copyright notice to tell you that date.  The publisher might
claim the version you've got was published after the change, which you'd
be poorly-placed to refute.

On the other hand, you may find the Norwegian Polar Institute willing to
be helpful, particularly if you can find appropriate technical staff
there to champion the idea,

	Eddy.