[cc-community] Computer-generated derivative

Richard Fairhurst richard at systemeD.net
Mon Mar 9 13:33:35 EDT 2009


Gisle Hannemyr wrote:
> If Fred had a Flash applet that created a remix of two copyrighted
> graphical artworks in the way you describe, the derived work
> (the new map he has created) must also be released under
> CC BY-SA.  Whether the remixing of the copyrighted  graphical
> artworks is done  manually by means of a scanner + Gimp, or
> by some applet software tailor-made for the task, does not
> make a difference.  The point is that if when start with
> copyrighted graphical artwork available under CC BY-SA,
> any graphical artwork derived from that must also be
> made available under CC BY-SA.

But "must also be released" and "must also be made available" are the  
killer words here.

If I type
    curl -o map.osm http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.5/map? 
bbox=11.4,48.7,11.45,48.75
    sed -e 's/node/nude/g' map.osm > mymap.osm

and the result just sits on my hard drive, I don't have to release  
it, or make it available, to anyone. I've simply created a local copy  
with my own proprietary alterations. Only if I distribute it do I  
have to make it available under CC-BY-SA ("You may distribute,  
publicly display, publicly perform, or publicly digitally perform the  
Work only under the terms of this License").

I think the Flash example is the same. It's a program running on my  
local computer that just makes a local copy. There's no infringement  
unless Fred distributes it - and he's not allowed to do that because  
he doesn't have rights to relicense either the CC-BY-SA or the  
proprietary data.

(I do agree with you on the wider point that OSM data almost  
certainly isn't "protected" under CC-BY-SA anyway, but that's a whole  
nuther topic.)

cheers
Richard


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