Question 1 A data set is comprised of:

Numeric data

Images

Copyrighted text

All of the above

Question 2 Professor Seasons wants to track local climate indicators. He hires a number of undergraduate students, including Brad Delta, to compile a spreadsheet of hourly outside temperature and rainfall readings for the university for a year. The students record the readings 24 times a day for 365 days. The resulting data is arranged by date and time. Professor Seasons has written an article on his findings, which includes several elaborate graphs created from the data set.

Is the data set protected by copyright in the U.S.?

Yes, because it took a cadre of students a year to collect the data which is sufficient 'sweat of the brow' effort to obtain copyright protection.

Yes, because it is a compilation, and compilations are always protected by copyright.

No, because the data set consists of facts arranged in a logical order, so there is no originality in the data set.

No, because data sets can never be protected by copyright.

Question 3 Are the graphs Professor Seasons has created eligible for copyright protection under U.S. Copyright Law?

Yes, because the underlying data set is protected by copyright, so all resulting graphs are also protected by copyright.

Yes, because the graphs may be an expression which meets the originality requirement for copyright protection.

No, because the underlying data set is not protected by copyright, so all resulting graphs are also not protected by copyright.

No, because the process of creating graphs from data is not original, and therefore not eligible for copyright protection.

Question 4 Professor Seasons is publishing his article in an open access journal which also wants to make the data set openly accessible.

What would you recommend as a best practice for Professor Seasons to make his data open?

Include a Creative Commons Zero license on the data set to make it clear that the work is being distributed without copyright and re-use restrictions in all jurisdictions.

Since the data set isn't protected by copyright in the U.S., nothing more is recommended.

Include a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial--No Derivatives license to clarify which re-uses are allowed.

Since the copyright protection of data sets varies by jurisdiction, write a paragraph describing the uses Professor Seasons considers appropriate and will allow.

Question 5 Professor Seasons decides to compare his data with other cities on the same longitude across the globe. He purchases a data set with this data and signs an agreement with the data provider. When he is finished with his analysis, he writes a second article. The publisher asks Professor Seasons to make both data sets openly available. Professor Seasons asks you if he should make both data sets openly available.

What do you advise?

Make both data sets openly available because it advances science.

Make both data sets openly available with attribution for the purchased data set. Since data sets aren't protected by U.S. Copyright Law, attribution is all that is required.

Make his own data set openly available, and follow the terms of the agreement for the acquired data set to determine whether or not it can be distributed further.

Make neither data set openly available and protect them as a trade secret.

Question 6 Brad Delta worked for Professor Seasons while getting his undergraduate degree, so he learned about compiling data. In the summer he works part-time for a landscaping company, Lovely Landscapes. The owner of Lovely Landscapes, Raymond Bush, asks Brad to compile the following information on their customers and send the results only to him: name, address, phone number, size of property, preferences for grass length and cutting bushes, beginning date of service, and monthly rate for service. Brad and his brother want to start their own landscaping company, and the information Raymond Bush asked him to compile would be useful in their new business venture.

If Brad takes the customer list he compiled when he quits Lovely Landscapes, what is the most likely protection available to Raymond Bush for this data?

None. Brad compiled the data and therefore is the author under copyright law.

Privacy. Raymond considers the data private and confidential, which is the only requirement for privacy protection.

Copyright. Data sets are protected by U.S. Copyright Law.

Trade Secrets. The data set was compiled by a business, is considered confidential, and has economic value.

Question 7 Which of the following is not a legal or ethical consideration when distributing data sets?

Whether the data set includes information on the difficulty and length of time required to collect the data so that others understand data collection techniques.

Whether the data set includes personally identifiable information so that distribution may violate privacy policies or laws.

Whether the data set includes personally identifiable medical information so that distribution may violate HIPPA regulations.

Whether the data set includes information on human subjects so that collection and distribution is governed by Institutional Review Board research protocols.

Question 8 Which of the following outputs from a data set would be most unlikely to qualify for copyright protection?

A bar graph or pie chart from numeric data

A print out of the numeric data

A visualization of word occurrence from text analysis

A map overlaid with GIS coordinates

Coursera Honor Code Learn more