On Aug 21, 8:49 am, guenter wrote:
and does it matter whether those positions or games or endgames
were created by hand or by computer ?

and what about chess-problems : mate in 2 , selfmate,...
are they copyrightable ?

What can be copyrighted are written works specifically created by
someone. If I ran off copies of pages from a book of chess problems
and sold them that someone had composed that would be a copyright
violation because the book contained the collection of created chess
problems.

However it would be very difficult to prove that I was violating
copyright laws by creating my own book of problems, unless there was
nearly identical similarity to the problems in my book and the
problems in someone else's previously created work. There is also
what is called "fair use". That means that you can use small amounts
of copyrighted materials under fair use without violating the law.
For example using a single problem from a collection would probably
qualify as fair use, but including several pages of problems composed
in a copyrighted book by another author in my own book would be a
copyright violation.

Think of it as a person not being able to copyright a word or a short
phrase but if I copy verbatim his/her entire poem or story I would be
violating copyright laws. I can't steal someone else's creative
content. To prove I am in violation however the person would have to
show that his content was so creative and unique that it is obvious
that I stole it from him/her.

In short, a person would have to prove that your problems were so
identical in creative content and there was substantial evidence to
indicate that you had plagiarized them from a copyrighted work for you
to be in trouble.

What you were asking was if it was safe to publish famous games of
chess masters without violating current copyright laws and I said yes,
it is safe to do that. That is not the same as photocopying a book
written by someone else that is copyrighted and using it to instruct
or resell.

And if Ken can point out a single problem that is so creative and
unique that it has been copyrightable I would like to hear about it.
I'm not saying there isn't one, but I would like to know where it is
and who composed it and if anyone ever tried to plagiarize it and lost
in court.