[cc-licenses] Raising the floor: suggesting a new CC-fair copyright, CC-free to use, redefinition of noncommercial and public domain
Heather Morrison
hgmorris at sfu.ca
Thu Dec 29 14:11:07 EST 2011
Abstract
This post suggests raising the floor by creating a new CC-fair
copyright for works that are not freely available. This will be
counter-intuitive to many a commonser, but note that this would give
consumers a great way to exert pressure for fair copyright. A new CC-
free to use / all rights reserves licenses is suggested, reflecting CC
Version 4.0 discussions suggesting the possibility of breaking
noncommercial into a stronger and a weaker license - this would be the
more restricted version. Wording is suggested for noncommercial per se
to clarify that educational use is not commercial, therefore
permitted, and asks whether public domain should be redefined as CC-
Sharelike (preferably in perpetuity). A question is raised about
advertising - is this really a commercial issue, or in part a matter
of creators' moral rights?
Details
Creative Commons - fair copyright
The idea is to create a new license for use with works that are not
free at all, to indicate that the licensor supports and agrees to what
we would like to see with copyright, including a broad set of fair
use / fair dealing guidelines and a commitment to place works in the
public domain in a reasonable time frame. By this I mean not current
national or international law, but rather the best practices for fair
use / fair dealing that we would all like to see as a minimum.
Suggestions as to what this would be would be most welcome - perhaps
an advocacy group for fair copyright has guidelines that would suit?
Rationale:
Strengths of this approach include:
• This would give consumers - from individuals to large organizations
like school districts - an opportunity to apply market pressure
towards more fair copyright practices. As a librarian involved in
coordinating purchase of information resources, I can see this being
high on the list of desirable (or even required) criteria for purchase.
• This more inclusive approach would broaden the commons, and help to
bridge what I see as an "us versus them" divide. My understanding is
that the experiences with free / open source software and creative
commons to date have shown that people tend to start with more
restrictive licensing, then move to less restrictive licensing over
time. It would be psychologically a smaller leap, as a reader,
listener, etc., to move from cc-fair copyright to cc-sharealike than
to move from outside to inside the commons.
Weakness: proponents of a strong commons may not like this idea.
Creative Commons - free to read / all rights reserved
This is very similar to CC-fair copyright, except that the work is
free to read online. With robust fair use / fair dealing, of course
such uses as downloading, format-shifting, etc., for personal research
and that sort of thing would be included.
Rationale: The "all rights reserved" is meant to address one
suggestion that has come up in the CC Version 4.0 discussion, of
dividing noncommercial into a two licenses, one with stronger and one
with weaker restrictions. This would be the strong version. Sharelike
might be an option with this license.
Creative Commons Noncommercial - suggested wording change
The current wording under Section 4 b - restrictions reads:
You may not exercise any of the rights granted to You in Section 3
above in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward
commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. The exchange of
the Work for other copyrighted works by means of digital file-sharing
or otherwise shall not be considered to be intended for or directed
toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation, provided
there is no payment of any monetary compensation in connection with
the exchange of copyrighted works. Suggested change to:
You may not sell the content of the work for private gain. For the
avoidance of doubt, educational use is not considered commercial for
the purposes of this license, and is therefore permitted. Including
the work in a package designed for sales to educational institutions
for the purpose of private gain is commercial use and is prohibited.
Providing services that facilitate uses of the work included in this
license, such as copying services, are permitted provided that any
fees charged are for the copying service alone and not for content
provision. Question about advertising:
Would it make sense to include: use of the work or parts thereof in
advertising products or services sold primarily for public gain is
considered a commercial use, and hence prohibited. The reason for why
question is, I wonder if advertising conducted in such a way as to
imply that the creator endorsed a product is a violation of creators'
moral rights which should be reflected in all CC licenses (for those
jurisdictions where this is not already covered by copyright law, and
to educate those who use CC-licensed work). Rationale: I think that
this may be close to what most ordinary creators mean by
noncommercial, that is, don't sell my work or create a new version and
sell that. It's pretty close to why I use noncommercial. Clarifying
that educational uses are allowed would be a huge benefit to everyone,
everywhere. Knowledge benefits us all!
Creative Commons - public domain suggestion
Based on a recent commons on the cc-licenses list that public domain
is problematic, I wonder if it makes sense to redefine public as CC-
Sharealike? Ideally, this should be perpetual, or at least give the
creator an opportunity to say that they think this license should be
perpetual.
My four bits for today, for what they are worth! Many thanks to
Creative Commons and all of the cc-licenses and cc-community
participants who have helped to shape my thinking about these matters.
Apologies for any conceptual errors, real or imagined. This post is
part of the Articulating the Commons series.
This post is also available at The Imaginary Journal of Poetic
Economics:
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2011/12/lets-raise-floor-proposal-for-creative.html
Please submit comments to this list or cc-community.
Heather Morrison, MLIS
Doctoral Candidate, Simon Fraser University School of Communication
http://pages.cmns.sfu.ca/heather-morrison/
The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com
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