Historical Data Copyright?

W

Wolfgang1756

Suppose I build a database of tick data for many financial instruments, which over time becomes quite considerable and also frankly quite valuable.

Of course I can use that data for my own purposes, but can I SELL it to others?

Who owns a copyright (if any at all!) of that data?

Thanks.
 
You have two issues, first is legal, second is IP. Legally, most companies make you sign a contract stating that you will not distribute or sell their data and that it is required to stay on one machine. Other companies like Activ or Bloomberg B-Pipe allow you to distribute the data but charge you $15k+ per month.

Short answer is chances are, no, you can not distribute or sell it.

Second issue is that you have now massed up a database that could be worth as much as $100k. I value my 3-years of Russell 3000 tick data around $100k for insurance purposes. #1 its logisticlly hard to sell because of the sheer size (I'm at 20TB and not completed the full 3 years yet) and #2, you will be giving up your edge as well as whats to stop someone from just copying your data and reselling it?

I have been working on an application that will allow users to (eventually) license use of my tick data without actually seeing it. Its essentially a backtest engine that can be accessed over the web. This is a long time out & not a sales pitch because it is no where near ready.

Also, most of the "tick data" you can buy out there is junk. It's usually bars, limited securities, etc.
 
Thanks for the info. Most useful.


Quote from WinstonTJ:

Second issue is that you have now massed up a database that could be worth as much as $100k. I value my 3-years of Russell 3000 tick data around $100k for insurance purposes. #1 its logisticlly hard to sell because of the sheer size (I'm at 20TB and not completed the full 3 years yet) and #2, you will be giving up your edge as well as whats to stop someone from just copying your data and reselling it?
More...

20TB for one symbol? Are you sure? Do you store the data on RAID?

Quote from WinstonTJ:

I have been working on an application that will allow users to (eventually) license use of my tick data without actually seeing it. Its essentially a backtest engine that can be accessed over the web. This is a long time out & not a sales pitch because it is no where near ready.
More...

How is that possible? If they can't see the tick data themselves then the only way would be for them to submit their strategy to you. I can see that happening ???
 
Quote from Wolfgang1756:

20TB for one symbol? Are you sure? Do you store the data on RAID?
More...

I think he means the entire catalog of 3000 symbols that make up the Russell 3000. Not the single index.
 
So this actually means, if one was able to get the data without subscribing, i.e. scraping, the future distribution is legal?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top