[cc-community] copyright on data?
Chris Watkins
chriswaterguy at appropedia.org
Sun Apr 26 15:06:21 EDT 2009
On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 06:08, Gisle Hannemyr <gisle at ifi.uio.no> wrote:
> On 26.04.2009 12:12, Chris Watkins wrote:
> > I'm thinking of WiserEarth's data, which is under a Creative Commons
> > Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License.
> >
> > We'd like to access this data for our own projects, but we use a
> > CC-BY-SA license - the NC clause means their work is incompatible.
> >
> > The question is: as they're under US law, is the basic data public
> > domain, seeing as it's something akin to a phone book? Contact details,
> > address, organization name and contact person's name - my understanding
> > is that this can't be copyrighted in the US.
>
> AFAIK, basic facts (i.e. stuff that are not the result of a creative
> effort) can't be copyrighted anywhere.
I believe that phone book data, for example, can be copyrighted in Australia
(not that it impacts this case).
> In Europe, however, there is
> so-called sui generis rights that give such data some protection.
> However, AFAIK sui generis rights are explicitly waived in all European
> jurisdiction 3.0 licenses, to bring them in-line with the situation
> in the US, there is something like the following in the license: "If
> the licensor is the owner of sui generis rights or similar according
> to the European Database Directive, the licensor waives these rights."
>
> I think that from a strict legal viewpoint, you can treat basic data
> that has been published under a CC license as if it is public
> domain.
>
> However, you may also consider the community aspect, and
> respect their license even if you are not legally required to do
> so. The Commons Deed have the following clause: "Any of the above
> conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright
> holder." Have you considered asking them permission to import their
> data for you projects?
>
> To an outsider like me, it looks like WiserEarth and Appropedia
> are both working towards very similar goals, so their should be
> some motivation in both communities for helping and respecting
> each other.
Thanks for this - I probably should have done this first. Talking about this
with WiserEarth is certainly part of the plan (we've had some other
conversations), but knowing how difficult it can be to finalize agreements
when specific permissions are needed, I thought it would be good to clarify
the legal aspect before having the conversations.
> --
> - gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://folk.uio.no/gisle/ ]
> ========================================================================
> "Don't follow leaders // Watch the parkin' meters" - Bob Dylan
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--
Chris Watkins (a.k.a. Chriswaterguy)
Appropedia.org - Sharing knowledge to build rich, sustainable lives.
identi.ca/appropedia / twitter.com/appropedia
blogs.appropedia.org
I like this: five.sentenc.es
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