[cc-licenses] Lawsuit over Virgin Mobile's and Ethical Use

Jordan S Hatcher jordan at opencontentlawyer.com
Mon Oct 1 10:41:44 EDT 2007


On 1 Oct 2007, at 14:46, paola.dimaio at gmail.com wrote:

> however, given the possible mess, I think the simple way around is
> that I will create an ethical clause and place it as a precondition
> for licensing any of my work
> if the condition is met (eithical criteria etc), then then work can be
> used under the terms of the cc (license type to be selected)
>
> This would cover my purpose and not interfere with any licenses

The end result is *still not a Creative Commons licensed work. The  
licence of the work in the scenario described above is your  
precondition + the terms of a CC licence. This is *not a CC licence  
because it is the equivalent to you having one document that had all  
the CC licence terms + your "ethical use only" clause.

It is not, for example, CC-BY-SA compatible (IMO) because YOU have  
added another restriction to the work.

As an illustration, say you had said that everyone except the  
military could use your work as CC-BY-SA. The goal of as well as the  
text of the CC-BY-SA licence does not allow for discrimination based  
on fields of endeavor. You have added a clause (call if a  
'precondition' if you like, it is still a part of the terms for using  
the work) that discriminates on who can use the licence. Therefore it  
is not compatible with CC-BY-SA material.

I also don't see how you can call the end result a CC licence, as  
what you are really doing is creating a licence that is your  
precondition + the terms of a CC licence. As mentioned, that is the  
PDM licence, and not a CC licence.

Thanks!

~Jordan


____
Mr. Jordan S Hatcher, JD, LLM

jordan at opencontentlawyer dot com
OC Blog: http://opencontentlawyer.com
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