[cc-licenses] ¿Dual licensing a bad idea?

Javier Candeira javier at candeira.com
Tue Jul 3 18:47:55 EDT 2007


Prodromos Tsiavos wrote:
> Just to add to Rob's point, I think there is also a practical compatibility 
> problem when you dual license a work. Consider the following scenario:
> 
> A is a dually licensed (under GPL/ CC_BY_SA) work which is then mixed with 
> work B  (which is only CC_BY_SA licensed).
> 
> Work AB that will come as a result of such mixing is now miscible ONLY with 
> CC_BY_SA works and cannot be dual licensed since it originates from B (which 
> is a CC_BY_SA only licensed work), unless B's licensor agrees to such new 
> form of licensing making B dual licensed as well.
> 
> I think Evan has commented on this issue quite extensively on this list in 
> the past.

Thanks! I had missed this point.

Javier

> thnx
> pRo
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Rob Myers" <rob at robmyers.org>
> To: "Discussion on the Creative Commons license drafts" 
> <cc-licenses at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 4:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [cc-licenses] ¿Dual licensing a bad idea?
> 
> 
> Javier Candeira wrote:
>> Rob Myers wrote:
>>> If you are the original licensor you could dual-license under BY-SA and
>>> GPL, but that's a very bad idea.
>> ¿Rob, can you please expound/expand?
> 
> BY-SA and the GPL are both copyleft licenses but they are designed for
> different kinds of work and protect different kinds of use. They are
> also incompatible.
> 
> Software really shouldn't be licensed BY-SA. It doesn't protect user
> freedom as well as the GPL. In particular you don't have to provide
> modified source code. And if a user makes a BY-SA derivative of the
> software it cannot be used with GPL licensed code (such as libraries).
> 
> Art shouldn't generally be licensed GPL. There is a web site of
> GPL-licensed art, and "software art" (programs that are art) should
> definitely be licensed GPL, but media shouldn't be. Since GPL-licensed
> code can work quite happily with BY-SA licensed media assets (icons,
> sounds) and documentation, there is no real reason to separate these
> from the rest of the BY-SA commons.
> 
> I agree with Evan that more and more art is being represented as
> software (and data), but I think it is still important to distinguish
> between executable software and cultural works. Ultimately we may need
> some kind of polymorphous license that requires that you publish the
> source of your novel when it's published as a LaTeX document and
> requires that you not add a shrinkwrap license when it's published as a
> dead-tree book.
> 
> - Rob.
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