IANAL, but this kind of question has been been discussed here and elsewhere online for years. Here is my impression:
Copyright laws differ from country to country. In the US there is a court ruling that chess problems are not copyrightable. (However, commentary is copyrightable.) That would probably apply to go problems, as well. In Japan it seems that problems are copyrightable. Pros buy problems from other pros.
I doubt if joseki themselves are copyrightable anywhere. However, variations in a commentary may be copyrightable in Japan.
There is also compilation copyright, where a collection of non-copyrightable material may itself be copyrightable. Compilation copyright might apply to a joseki dictionary.
Complicated? Yeah.
