Can a work be copyrighted if it merely collects and organizes information?

No, you cannot. There are several main systems for acquiring copyrights: registration, automatic acquisition, and other acquisitions.

1) Registration and acquisition system: refers to the registration as a condition for obtaining copyright, and the copyright can only be generated after the work is registered. This principle of copyright registration is also known as the doctrine of registration or the doctrine of registration.

2) Automatic acquisition system: refers to the natural acquisition of copyright based on the existence of the legal fact that the creation of the work is completed, without any formalities. The principle on which this system is based is also known as the principle of automatic acquisition of copyright or the principle of automatic protection.

3) Other acquisition systems.

Referring to the different regulations of each country, other acquisition systems mainly include the following three categories:

1) The copyright can only be obtained after the work has been fixed with a tangible object. This system is used in the copyright law of the United States.

2) Copyright mark acquisition system. The copyright notice includes the name of the copyright owner, the year of first publication, and the abbreviation of copyright in English, the letter C plus a circle, which represents the copyright.

3) Publishing acquisition system. That is, according to the principle of territoriality, the first publication of a work in a country is taken as the criterion for obtaining copyright. For example, the third paragraph of Article 2 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that if a work of a foreigner or stateless person is first published within the territory of China, he or she shall enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law.

First of all, the act of collecting folk songs and arranging them into a book is an act of compilation, and the work formed by the act of compiling becomes a compilation. In accordance with the provisions of Article 14 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the compilation of a number of works, fragments of works, or data or other materials that do not constitute a work, and the selection or arrangement of the content of which reflect originality, is a compilation work, and the copyright is enjoyed by the compiler, but the copyright of the original work shall not be infringed when exercising the copyright. Therefore, you have copyright in the work.

Secondly, when others are doing the same thing as you, that is, compiling these folk songs, as long as they create their own independent creations and originality, that is, they do not plagiarize your work, they also have copyright and do not infringe your copyright.

Finally, the question of whether your work can be published and its likelihood depends on whether the publisher you are sending to is willing to publish and whether it has market value. If it has a good market value, I think the publisher is willing to publish your work in order to pursue economic interests.

Yes, the fundamental reason why the compilation work is protected by the Copyright Law is not whether the compilation material itself is protected by the Copyright Law, but that the compiler has paid creative labor in the selection or arrangement of the content of the compilation material. A database that embodies originality in the selection or arrangement of materials may be protected by copyright law as a compilation. The copyright of the compilation work shall be enjoyed by the compiler, but the copyright shall not be infringed upon when exercising the copyright.

Since the right of compilation is the exclusive right of the author, the consent of others should be obtained when compiling a work or a fragment of a work protected by copyright law, and the copyright rights of others, such as the right of publication, the right of authorship, the right to protect the integrity of the work, and the right to receive remuneration, shall not be infringed by others.

1. The term of copyright protection of individual works.

Copyright includes both personal and property rights, so there are different legal provisions on the duration of their protection.

The right of authorship, the right of modification and the right to protect the integrity of the work in the moral rights of the author are rights associated with a specific person, which do not disappear due to the death of the person, so they are permanently protected by law and have no time limit. The term of protection of the right of publication is more special, and it is the same as the term of protection of property rights in copyright.

The term of protection of copyright property rights is stipulated as follows depending on the nature of the work and the subject of the copyright.

1. The period during which the author is a citizen.

The term of protection shall be the life of the author and 50 years after his death, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the author's death; In the case of collaborative works, by December 31 of the 50th year after the death of the author who died last.

2. The period during which the author is a legal person or other organization.

The term of protection is 50 years, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the first publication of the work; However, if the work has not been published within 50 years after the completion of the creation, the Copyright Law will no longer protect it.

3. The time limit for special works.

the term of protection for cinematographic works and works created by methods similar to that of filmmaking and photographic works for a period of 50 years, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the first publication of the work; However, if the work has not been published within 50 years after the completion of the creation, the Copyright Law will no longer protect it.

For works whose author is unknown, the term of protection for the right to use and receive remuneration is 50 years after the first publication of the work. The "unknown identity" of the author here mostly refers to the situation where the identity of the author is difficult to determine because the work is published under a pseudonym, pseudonym, pseudonym, or without a signature. If the author is identified within 50 years, the term of protection of his copyright shall be as stated above.

If the conditions are met, the Intellectual Property Office will grant the copyright of the work, and if the conditions are not met, it will be rejected, but the author can make a defense. The work has copyright, and it is an infringement if it is plagiarized or borrowed by others.