Licenses Free licenses for other intellectual works Legal Aspects – Master on Free Software 2012-13 Miguel Vidal http://flossystems.com Twitter: @mvidallopez November 9th, 2012 1 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses (cc) 2008-2012 Miguel Vidal This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 2 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Disclaimer This presentation is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not legal advice! It must not be relied upon as a substitute for obtaining specific legal advice from a licensed attorney. Legal advice must be provided in the course of an attorney-client relationship specifically with reference to all the facts of a particular situation and the law of your jurisdiction. Hire an attorney if you need legal advice 3 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Course Contents Lesson 0: Presentation of the Course Lesson 1: Intellectual Property: basic concepts and legal framework Lesson 2: Legal Aspects of Free/Open Source Software Lesson 3: Free/Open Source software licenses Lesson 4: Free licenses for other intellectual works Lesson 5: Case studies 4 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture Table of Contents 1 Free cultural works FSF approach What is a free culture 2 Freedom Defined 3 Free Documentation licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses 4 Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses 5 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture Free Licenses for other intellectual works FLOSS licenses have inspired licenses for other intellectual works: audio, video. . . Stallman distinguished between functional works (documentation, encyclopedias, manuals, etc.), non-functional works (literature, music, movies, etc.) to justify the use of restrictive clauses for works other than software. 6 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture Free Licenses for other intellectual works FLOSS licenses have inspired licenses for other intellectual works: audio, video. . . Stallman distinguished between functional works (documentation, encyclopedias, manuals, etc.), non-functional works (literature, music, movies, etc.) to justify the use of restrictive clauses for works other than software. http://biblioweb.sindominio.net/telematica/libre.html 6 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture FSF: Opinions and Judgments exceptions FSF recommends proprietary licenses for works of opinion (memoirs, editorials, and so on). Just the permission to copy and distribute the work verbatim. It recommends verbatim and CC by-nd (including FSF/GNU webpage) 7 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture Debate: Functional Works vs. non-functional Works Discussion: Is it true that non-functional works require less freedoms? 10 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture Debate: Functional Works vs. non-functional Works Discussion: Is it true that non-functional works require less freedoms? Legitimation of non-commercial clauses? (and other restrictive clauses). 10 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture GPL for documentation and non-software works? 11 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture GPL for documentation and non-software works? 12 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture Table of Contents 1 Free cultural works FSF approach What is a free culture 2 Freedom Defined 3 Free Documentation licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses 4 Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses 13 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture What is a free culture? (1) “Free culture” as in “free speech”, “free markets”, “free trade”, “free enterprise”, “free will” and “free elections” (not related to free as gratis). A free culture supports and protects creators and innovators: it’s the traditional way our culture is built. 14 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture What is a free culture? (and 2) A free culture is NOT a culture without property, just as a free market is not a market in which everything is free (gratis). The opposite of a free culture is a “permission culture” –a culture in which creators get to create only with the permission of the holder, or of creators from the past (Lawrence Lessig’s view). 15 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses FSF approach What is a free culture Controversy about definition of free cultural works Freedom Defined: There isn’t free culture without the right to make derivative works or commercial uses. Lax use: accepting limitations to modify works or to trade with them. 16 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses “Freedom Defined”: free cultural works It’s not a new license, but an initiative to provide a definition of free outside of the software world to end the ambiguity of the term in the Free Culture movement. CC fails to establish a “base level of freedom” (Mako Hill) A Debian developer proposal (Mako Hill): reached consensus over a draft with the community, the FSF and CC. It’s an adaptation of the four essential freedoms of Free Software. Author’s rights not in dispute: only getting knowledge of which licenses (and works) do or do not fit the definition of free. 17 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses “Freedom Defined”: Definition of Freedom By freedom we mean: the freedom to use the work and enjoy the benefits of using it the freedom to study the work and to apply knowledge acquired from it the freedom to make and redistribute copies, in whole or in part, of the information or expression the freedom to make changes and improvements, and to distribute derivative works 18 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Defining Free Cultural Works These are the additional conditions in order for a work to be considered free: Availability of source data (score of a musical composition, the models used in a 3D scene, the data of a scientific publication, the source code of a computer application, or any other such information) Use of a free format (no patents) No technical restrictions No other restrictions or limitations: The work itself must not be covered by legal restrictions (patents, contracts, etc.) or limitations which would impede the 4 freedoms. 19 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Identifying Free Cultural Works Whenever the user of a work cannot legally or practically exercise his basic freedoms, the work cannot be considered and should not be called “free”. So: Non-commercial restrictions are non-free licenses. No derivative restrictions are non-free licenses. Non-Commercial Share-alike Is Not Copyleft: Copyleft is a reversal of copyright. It restores and protects the rights that copyright removes. The rights, not some rights. “Open Content” and “Open Access” are not a clear definition of freedom. 20 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses Table of Contents 1 Free cultural works FSF approach What is a free culture 2 Freedom Defined 3 Free Documentation licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses 4 Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses 21 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses The GNU FDL Distinction between “transparent” copies of the document (similar to “source”) and “opaque” copies (similar to “binary”). Some additional restrictions: acknowledgments, dedications, and the history of the document can be modified but only by adding new lines. The document could include “invariant” and “cover” sections, not modifiable. However, only “non-technical” texts can be considered invariant. GFDL does not comply with Debian guidelines (DRM clause, GPL incompatible and invariant parts), unless the invariant section clauses are not used. 22 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses Table of Contents 1 Free cultural works FSF approach What is a free culture 2 Freedom Defined 3 Free Documentation licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses 4 Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses 23 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses Wikipedia Case Until June 2009, WP contents were covered by the GFDL. Wikipedia was relicensed to CC-by-sa 3.0, another copyleft license. Causes? 24 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses Wikipedia Case Until June 2009, WP contents were covered by the GFDL. Wikipedia was relicensed to CC-by-sa 3.0, another copyleft license. Causes? The GFDL is not suitable for online reference works (designed for printed works). GFDL compliance is almost impossible: to reproduce an excerpt from Wikipedia would need to attach (not binding) to complete the GFDL and contributions throughout history. No-compatible with the CC-by-sa, copyleft license more widespread. 24 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses Wikipedia Case Until June 2009, WP contents were covered by the GFDL. Wikipedia was relicensed to CC-by-sa 3.0, another copyleft license. Causes? The GFDL is not suitable for online reference works (designed for printed works). GFDL compliance is almost impossible: to reproduce an excerpt from Wikipedia would need to attach (not binding) to complete the GFDL and contributions throughout history. No-compatible with the CC-by-sa, copyleft license more widespread. If every author is holder of his/her edition, how could Wikipedia be relicensed? 24 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses How could Wikipedia be relicensed? 25 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses How could Wikipedia be relicensed? A community referendum in April 2009. GFDL 1.2 “or any later version” clause At request of the Wikimedia Foundation, FSF released a new GFDL version (1.3), designed specifically to allow relicense Wikipedia content as CC by-sa. Conflict with art. 14.1 LPI? (“corresponden al autor los siguientes derechos irrenunciables e inalienables: 1. Decidir si su obra ha de ser divulgada y en qu´ e forma”). 25 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses Table of Contents 1 Free cultural works FSF approach What is a free culture 2 Freedom Defined 3 Free Documentation licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses 4 Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses 26 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses FreeBSD Documentation License Used by FreeBSD project. Very similar to the 2-clause BSD License. Avoids ambiguity with “source code” and “compile” in the context of documentation. 27 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses FreeBSD Documentation License Copyright 1994-2011 The FreeBSD Project. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source (SGML DocBook) and ’compiled’ forms (SGML, HTML, PDF, PostScript, RTF and so forth) with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1 Redistributions of source code (SGML DocBook) must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer as the first lines of this file unmodified. 2 Redistributions in compiled form (transformed to other DTDs, converted to PDF, PostScript, RTF and other formats) must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 28 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses BSD Documentation License Based on the FreeBSD Documentation License. Terms more generic (not only FreeBSD). Reintroduce the 3rd clause that restricts the use of documentation for endorsement purposes. 29 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses BSD Documentation License Copyright (c) <year>, <copyright holder>. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source (Docbook format) and ’compiled’ forms (PDF, PostScript, HTML, RTF, etc), with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1 Redistributions of source code (Docbook format) must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2 Redistributions in compiled form (transformed to other DTDs, converted to PDF, PostScript, HTML, RTF, and other formats) must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3 The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this documentation without specific prior written permission. 30 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses ISC License (modified for documentation) /* * Copyright (c) CCYY YOUR NAME HERE <[email protected]> * * Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this documentation for any * purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above * copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies. * * THE DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED ”AS IS” AND THE AUTHOR * DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE * INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY * AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE * FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL * DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS * OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF * CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF * THIS DOCUMENTATION. */ 31 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Creative Commons objectives Creative Commons, a non-profit organisation for... Creating a set of licenses, for any type of content. Indexing CC licensed works, so you can locate free contents fast... International adaptation of licenses (for example, there are Spanish official CC licenses) http://www.creativecommons.org 32 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Creative Common Licenses objectives With Creative Common licenses you can... Donate your work to the Public Domain or... Maintain some rights: Attribution Non-commercial No derivative Share Alike You can combine these rights (with some logical exceptions). So, you maintain some rights reserved. 33 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Before licensing Make sure your work is copyrightable Make sure you have the rights Make sure you understand how Creative Commons licenses operate (non-revocable, etc.) Be specific about what you are licensing Are you a member of a collecting society? 34 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Creative Commons: Simplicity Why CC is so popular: Simple web tool We only have to answer basic questions like: “Allow commercial uses? Allow modifications?” 35 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Copyright: All rights reserved 36 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain: No rights reserved 37 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Creative Commons: Some rights reserved 38 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Types of Creative Commons licenses (1/2) Mixing and matching these conditions produces six possible combinations: CC Licenses 1 Attribution (by) 2 Attribution + Non commercial (by-nc) 3 Attribution + No Derivate Works (by-nd) 4 Attribution + share alike (by-sa) 5 Attribution + Non commercial + No Derivate Works (by-nc-nd) 6 Attribution + Non commercial + share alike (by-nc-sa) 39 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Types of Creative Commons licenses (2/2) “Special” CC licenses: Public Domain Dedication (and CC0) Founder’s Copyright: the work is released into PD after 14 or 28 years. Sampling Plus: parts of the work can be copied and modified for any purpose. The entire work can be copied for non-commercial purposes. Non-commercial Sampling Plus: the whole work or parts of the work can be copied and modified for noncommercial purposes. Retired licenses: Developing Nations, Sampling. 40 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Creative Commons and software licenses CC Licenses weren’t designed for use with software: don’t make mention of source or object code. CC recommends to use available licenses from the free/open source software world. CC has “wrapped” some free software/open source licenses (BSD, GPL and LGPL) with a human-readable “Commons Deed” and machine-readable metadata (“three-layer packaging”). It is important to note that CC has not altered these software licenses in any way. GPL and LGPL includes a Portuguese translation (job made for Brazilian government). 41 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Projects with Creative Commons licenses Wikipedia (cc-by-sa, since June 2009) Wikia (cc-by-sa, since June 2009). A free web hosting service for wikis Citizendium (cc-by-sa). Wiki-based Encyclopedia. knol (mostly, cc-by-sa or cc-by-nc-sa). A Google project that aims to include user-written articles on a range of topics Arduino (cc-by-sa). A single-board microcontroller and a software suite for programming it. NINJAM (cc-by-sa). A mechanism for exchanging audio data across the internet. 42 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Use of Creative Commons licenses All CC licenses contain a three-layer user interface (for humans, lawyers and machines): Commons Deed: It is a summary, human-readable, of the license with the relevant icons. Legal Code: The complete legal code in which the chosen license is based. Digital Code. The digital code, a machine-readable version that helps search engines and other applications identify the work by its terms of use. 43 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses The Attribution license With this license, you reserve only moral rights: Attribution of your work. There are not restrictions in commercial use or derivative works. This license is the nearest to a FLOSS permissive license. 44 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses The Attribution-ShareAlike license With this license, you reserve two rights: Attribution of your work. Any derived work must be licensed under same license. This license is the nearest to a copyleft license. 45 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Table of Contents 1 Free cultural works FSF approach What is a free culture 2 Freedom Defined 3 Free Documentation licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses 4 Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses 46 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC Zero license Created in 2009. CC0 is the “no rights reserved” option (like a PD dedication). Anyone can then use the work in any way and for any purpose Public Domain legally robust way: universal applicability, intended for use world-wide by anyone. If the waiver isn’t effective for any reason, then CC0 acts as a license from the affirmer granting the public an unconditional, irrevocable, non exclusive, royalty free license to use the work for any purpose. 47 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC Zero (CC0) – No Copyright CC0 Public Domain Dedication “The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.” CC0 rights granted: “You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.” 48 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC Zero (CC0) – No Copyright 49 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Table of Contents 1 Free cultural works FSF approach What is a free culture 2 Freedom Defined 3 Free Documentation licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses 4 Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses 50 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC NonCommercial Share-alike (CC-nc-sa) Is it a free license? 51 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC NonCommercial Share-alike (CC-nc-sa) Is it a free license? CC-nc-sa is NOT a free license. 51 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC NonCommercial Share-alike (CC-nc-sa) Is it a free license? CC-nc-sa is NOT a free license. Is it a copyleft license? 51 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC NonCommercial Share-alike (CC-nc-sa) Is it a free license? CC-nc-sa is NOT a free license. Is it a copyleft license? NonCommercial Share-alike is NOT a copyleft license: copyleft rebuilds and protects the rights that restrictive copyright removes. Rights, no some rights. 51 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses What does it mean non-commercial? Non-commercial clause You may not exercise any of the rights granted to You [...] in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. Cl´ ausula no comercial Usted no puede ejercitar ninguno de los derechos concedidos [...] de manera que pretenda principalmente o su actuaci´ on se dirija a la obtenci´ on de un beneficio mercantil o una contraprestaci´ on monetaria. 52 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses The “non-commercial” clause (1/3) It is frequently used, particularly in blogs and social sites, and it is now being adopted by some institutions. They are believed to protect the work against abusive use and opportunists (reselling or commercial exploitation by corporations, etc.). It is sometimes supported by alleging that protects investment (though some studies have challenged this view, since it restricts distribution). 53 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses The “non-commercial” clause (2/3) It raises evil side effects: This clause does not distinguish between indirect commercial uses, self-funded projects, etc. It brings uncertainty about what is a commercial activity: when in doubt you might decide not to use it to avoid demands or consulting lawyers... Incompatibility with libre projects (i.e. Wikipedia). Causing confusion about the “free” concept: it promotes another kind of opportunism, by using viral marketing to create the impression that a work is free but not truly releasing it as a libre product. 54 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses The “non-commercial” clause (3/3) The author’s right to decide the terms in which he shares his work is not at stake here. What it is rejected is the confusion and the subterfuge of presenting a work as a free product when it is not true. Use any license you like, but also use concepts with accuracy: do not label as free/libre or copyleft what it is not. Confusion damages free culture and benefit opportunists. 55 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Table of Contents 1 Free cultural works FSF approach What is a free culture 2 Freedom Defined 3 Free Documentation licenses GNU FDL Wikipedia Case Permissive Documentation Licenses 4 Creative Commons Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses 56 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Debian-legal and CC After the popularization of CC, Debian-legal warned of Attribution provisions. The causes were: A work under Attribution can be in fact, NoDerivs Downstream users remove an author’s credit upon request from the author. Inaccurate or excessive authorship credits. Problems with Anti-DRM provisions (which could restrict private redistribution to some extent). Trademark restrictions. Attribution[-ShareAlike] 2.x is NOT compatible with DFSG. Efforts to fix these problems in the new version 3.0 licenses. 57 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC Attribution Problems (II): Authorship credits Requirements for crediting Licensor for his/her work: it’s ambiguous So, we need the most pessimistic interpretation: Required attribution for the licensor everywhere that authorship credit is given. Example 1: If a work is a collection of essays by different authors, with authorship credit given in the chapter titles, the Licensor’s name would have to be listed for each chapter title, even if they did not contribute to it. Example 2: If Alice writes her autobiography, and includes lyrics from Bob’s song in one chapter, she must give him credit for the entire work: “The Autobiography of Alice, by Alice and Bob”, or even “The Autobiography of Alice and Bob.” 58 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC Attribution Problems (III) Anti-DRM Clause: Distribution with measures to control access is not compatible with DFSG 1. Example 1: Private distribution of work might be forbidden. Example 2: Distribution in a server with control access (i.e. firewall) might be forbidden. 59 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC NoDerivs clause problems Obviously, NoDerivs licenses are not compatible with Four Freedoms (nor DFSG) 60 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses CC NonCommercial clause problems Obviously, NonCommercial licenses are not compatible with Four Freedoms (nor DFSG) 61 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses In short: Debian recommendations to authors All software licensed under CC 2.x is NOT compatible with DFSG. CC 3.x has fixed several of these problems. Software licensed under NonCommercial/NoDerivs can’t be named “Free Software”. Authors who wish to use Attribution must use other licenses as BSD. Authors who wish to use Attribution-ShareAlike must use other licenses as GFDL. 62 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
Licenses Public Domain Dedication The “non-commercial” clause Debian Guidelines and Creative Commons Licenses Free licenses for other intellectual works Legal Aspects – Master on Free Software 2012-13 Miguel Vidal http://flossystems.com Twitter: @mvidallopez November 9th, 2012 63 / 63 Miguel Vidal Free licenses for other intellectual works
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