[cc-licenses] Children's creations under CC License

jonathon jonathon.blake at gmail.com
Thu Jul 19 19:42:32 EDT 2007


Andres Monroy-Hernandez wrote:

> 1. What do you think of the kid-friendly license?

A very simple explanation. It does have some implications
that are not part of the CC-BY-SA 3.0 licence.

> 2. Do you know of other projects that let kids create their own content and license it?

The content won't display on my system.
Nonetheless, is this software or not?

The concept appears to be software, and if so, none of the
CC licences are suitable.

> 3. Are kids "allowed" to license their own content?

The answer to that depends upon the legal jurisdiction you
are in.  It also depends upon the age of the individual.

As a general rule of thumb, any content created by kids can
only be distributed, and licensed by the legal guardian
and/or parent of the child.  [IOW, a parent can sue your
organization, for distributing material that their child
created, because you are distributing the child's content
without their (the parent's) knowledge, authorization, or
consent.)

> 4. Could you point me to any academic or legal documents that touch upon  this topic in the context of CC licenses?

I'd strongly recommend that you consult with a good lawyer
in your area.   A lawyer that is very familiar with
intellectual property rights and the law. And also knows
about law concerning minors.  I'm not sure if child labour
law will also kick in, in your local jurisdiction.

I'm saying this because I have known parents to sue schools
for displaying their child's art work, without providing
financial compensation to either the artist, or the parent.
 [The kid was ecstatic that their art was displayed in the
visitor's room.  The parents figured they were owed $5K,
since that was the budget for the purchase of artwork for
the school.]

xan

jonathon



More information about the cc-licenses mailing list