[pp.int.general] Commercial use of functional works

[Richard Stallman]

    Yes! This is a *very* important issue. What is a "functional work"? I was 
    faced with a commercial database of legal articles and case law (I won't 
    mention the name - just in case Big brother is watching me). The information 
    in this database is valuable ("functional")

Functional does not mean valuable.  They are totally unrelated concepts.

I call a work "functional" if it is meant to be used, by its users, to
do practical jobs.  This is a totally different issue from whether the
work has economic value to someone.

Artistic works are not functional, but they can be of economic value
to someone.