[cc-community] NC Clause

Terry Hancock hancock at anansispaceworks.com
Thu Feb 15 09:20:17 EST 2007


Ignasi Labastida i Juan wrote:
> I think we have discussed this issue many times but I also think that
> David Wiley makes a good point here:
> 
> Creative Commons vs MIT OCW: Interpreting the Noncommercial Clause
> (http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/307)

In brief, Wiley points out that:

1) CC's interpretation of NC starts by ruling out all commercial users
(i.e. it is not a "commercial use" restriction, but a "commercial user"
restriction -- IOW it discriminates against PEOPLE, not APPLICATIONS).

2) MIT's interpretation (of the VERY SAME license) rejects this,
claiming the license allows commercial users to use the work so long as
their use is "non-commercial".

There is ONE reply, which says, essentially "it's okay, they're just
interpretations -- it would really be decided in court".

ACK!

If CC were to adopt that position (and I have heard CC reps present it
multiple times), it would be TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE.

If a license term is subject to that much ambiguity, then it is clearly
a BAD license term and should be immediately deprecated and removed from
publication.

If NC is to remain in the CC licenses, then it should spell out EXACTLY
what it means. This kind of ambiguity is unsupportable.

ISTM that the actual PRACTICE in interpreting CC license is that most
people think it means "anyone can use the work as long as they don't
sell it". Of course, this gets dicey when indirect value through
advertising is derived. But most users appear to believe that *some*
advertising-sponsored channels are acceptable.

All of this is just asking for lawsuits. Is that the point of the
license? It's a make-work program for lawyers?

Frankly, you don't need licenses for that. We can have that kind of fun
just interpreting what "fair use" means (hard enough in the US, let
alone internationally).

Right now, CC licenses are still a fringe phenomenon. But if they are to
grow in use -- as presumeably CC hopes they will -- then they need to
also grow in quality so that they become clear, useful documents.

Cheers,
Terry

-- 
Terry Hancock (hancock at AnansiSpaceworks.com)
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com



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