[cc-community] "Games, 3d printing, and functional content" 4.0 wiki page
Alan Cox
alan at lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk
Wed Jan 4 18:42:43 EST 2012
On Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:32:46 +0000
Rob Myers <rob at robmyers.org> wrote:
> On 04/01/12 23:25, Alan Cox wrote:
> >
> > Work boundaries for one,
>
> The argument (which I remain personally incredulous of) seems to be that
> sometimes the boundaries are not so clear cut.
I have worked in software for a long time an for software "not clear cut"
is an understatement. They are about as well defined as the US budget
reduction plan. So much hinges on history and intent, exact form of
combination etc.
Think about books even - if I add a chapter to your book is that a derived
work or just a combination. If I bundle your book and my chapter
together ? Even in this case it generally depends on the nature of that
chapter, how the user perceives the divide etc. And if you think that is
irrelevant to software it is where questions about things like compiled in
firmware for GPL drivers end up looking for caselaw...
It's a very large, very expensive grey fuzzy fog.
> > and the fact many functional objects have no
> > creative element so are not copyrightable.
>
> Can their representations in code/software be copyrighted, as per Type 1
> fonts?
Only if they are a creative work in themselves.
>
> > Secondly copyright is a *copy*right, not a usage control license. One of
> > the ways it all blows up for a physical object is that if I take a CC
> > design and print it, the resulting print may in some cases also be CC for
> > the purposes *of copying*. However that in many cases is where the powers
> > of copyright end. If I wish to print 500 cogs from your design CC-SA says
> > I can. If I wish to put those 500 cogs into a proprietary machine I can -
> > and copyright often has no power over it. It's not a copying action.
>
> I'm not saying this would be a good thing, but: would it be possible to
> make the *copying* license conditional on not using the cogs in a
> proprietary machine? Or would this be trivially circumventable (you
> print the cogs, you give them to me, I make the proprietary machine with
> them)?
The proprietary world has been full of (failed) attempts to do this, and
in many cases the failure cases were with contract law which is far
stronger.
Alan
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