Copyright is what protects creators from having someone copy and make money off of their work without compensation.

However, there are some things like directories or maps, which have information that can be difficult to copyright.

It's just presenting information or data which exists out in the real world.

Creators of maps and directories have found unique ways around this problem. Learn more about copyright traps, aka Mount Weasles, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Audible.

My audio book recommendation today is The Copyright Wars, three centuries of Transatlantic

battle by Peter Baldwin.

Today's copyright wars can seem unprecedented.

Sparked by the digital revolution that has made copyright and its violation, a part of everyday life,

fights over intellectual property have pitted creators against consumers and open access advocates. But while the digital generation can be forgiving for thinking

that the dispute between creators and consumers is new, the copyright wars in fact stretch back

three centuries and their history is essential to understanding today's battles.

You can get a free one month trial to audible and two free audio books by going to audible trial

dot com slash everything everywhere or by clicking on the link in the show notes.

Let's suppose I wanted to start a company that sold maps.

I could hire cartographers and spend a lot of time and money going out

and gathering data. Because I'm just documenting something which exists in reality,

the end result of all my hard work and investment is going to look just like other maps that are out there already.

So why couldn't I just skip all the effort and copy the maps which already exist?

Sure, I'll change the font and the colors, but fundamentally, the end result is going to be the same either way, right?

This is a big problem for any maker of reference products, maps, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. You can't copyright facts, but you can take steps

to show that someone is a plagiarist or violating copyright. They do this via copyright traps.

Copyright traps are nothing more than false information,

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