[od-discuss] ISO Codes

Mon Nov 24 12:16:48 UTC 2014

Hi Michael

>
> MR: Is there a conclusion then to this issue.  I’m getting the sense no
> one is absolutely clear.
>
> Whether country codes are facts or not is the the issue on which you are
not clear. But that is not the question that you posed, its just the issue
that the thread ended up discussing, which is the way that these things
often go.

On the issue of whether the codes are re-useable in a standard there is a
clear answer. On this Rob Meyers answered:
"the PDF notice refers to the full text of the standards documents, not
e.g. the country codes"

Gisle Hannemyr who is a copyright expert stated the following:

"The only thing that /can/ be copyrighted is the full text of the
standards, i.e. the documents that are published by ISO and IEC.

/Data/ that are part of the standards, such as the ISO Country codes
(defined by the ISO 3166 suite of standards) cannot be copyrighted and
the use of these codes in within the IATI framework (and similar) does
not infringe upon ISO's copyright.

For the record: I don't think ISO is saying it is illegal to use this
data in the PDF linked."

MR: Perhaps its worth talking to the people at ISO directly.

By all means if you want to pay ISO some money.

But if you want greater assurance that re-using the country codes is
permissible than you've already been given on this list you'll have to
brief an attorney. There are many good copyright lawyers in Washington, I
can give you a few names if you don't know any.

>
> Cheers,
> Michael
>
>
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