Using information from copyrighted images legal?
<p>I'm looking at a large collection of images of graphs. I want to use the information in the images, not the images themselves. I've made a small program to extract this information, but I was wondering if it would be legal for me to use this information for commercial use? The images all have a copyright symbol on them, but I haven't been able to find it in a copyright database, so I doubt it's registered at the moment. </p>

<p>From a ton of googling, I would think that the information in the graphs is not subject to copyright, only the actual image of the graphs?</p>

<p>I think it's also possible that the specific collection of images could be copyrighted. What would happen if I simply removed some of them, so that it's now a different set?</p>

<p>The graphs on the images are specific measurements of specific things (like size, weight, etc.)</p>

<p>Copyright protection does not extend to abstract informational value (facts), it only protects the expression of an idea. A line graph of sales over time imparts certain information, and that specific expression of the information is protected, but the same information can be re-expressed as a bar chart, equation, table of numbers, or line graph in a different form. The bar chart is also protected as a separate expression (as a form of art), but a table of numbers is not, even though it may involve consider sweat of the brow to create the table of numbers. A particular graphic presentation of such numbers would, on the other hand, be protected expression.</p>

<p>Images can be bundled together and the bundling is protected. You cannot change that bundling, e.g. reorder or remove the images. You would be creating a derivative work, and that requires permission of the copyright owner.</p>

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