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

Jordan S Hatcher jordan at opencontentlawyer.com
Fri Sep 28 13:24:41 EDT 2007


On 28 Sep 2007, at 17:21, paola.dimaio at gmail.com wrote:

> to: cc thailand, cc discussion list, asiacommons
>
> We have had some recent discussions on the desirability/usefulness to
> have an 'ethical use' clause as a possible add on to cc licenses
>
> I can chose, attribution, non commercial, non derivative, sharealike
> but nothing prevents a third party to use an image for something that
> I do not approve of (in an unethical marketing campaign or an
> unethical website etc)
>
> In the story below I expect Virgin in turn can sue its Advertising
> Agency, but thats beside the point
>
> How do I go about adding an 'ethical use' clause, Your Honors?
>

I am against adding any 'ethical use' clause in future revisions. The  
main reason is that it is difficult to be able to determine what  
would be 'ethical', and you are back to having to ask permission to  
use the work, which is what the CC licences are meant to address  
(constantly having to ask for a licence).

I'm not too big of a fan of keeping in the moral right to object to  
derogatory treatment either (which is in *most licences), but  
undertsand why it is in there. It might be useful (depending on your  
jurisdiction) to stop uses that are 'unethical'.

You wouldn't add in an 'ethical clause' to an existing licence  
either. At least you wouldn't add it in and still call the result a  
Creative Commons licence.

If you want to approve use of your work on a case-by-case basis, then  
a CC licence is not appropriate.

Thanks!

~Jordan

____
Mr. Jordan S Hatcher, JD, LLM

jordan at opencontentlawyer dot com
IP/IT Blog: http://twitchgamer.net

Usage of Creative Commons by cultural heritage organisations
<http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/studies/cc2007>

"The Impact of Free Trade Agreements on Information Technology Based  
Business"
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=984864>





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