[Cc-nz] NZ CC License approach

Graeme W. Austin austin at law.arizona.edu
Thu Oct 5 12:13:37 EDT 2006


Dear Ian:

Thanks for copying me in on this material about the Creative Commons License (CCL).  I have a couple of thoughts:

Before going further with this project, it is, I think, very important to be thinking about the CCL from the position of authors as well as users.  

The CCL may be very useful for academic writers, who, in many contexts, don't necessarily want or expect to be paid (or paid much) for their authorship.  Academics have their authorship habits subsidized by their employers; they are, however, often very interested in having their work more liberally disseminated with appropriate attribution. Hence the CCL will likely work very well for them.  From that perspective, the CCL may be a very useful innovation.

For people who try to make their living from authorship, however, it may be helpful to consider whether you should have a section describing the implications that the CCL might have for those who choose it over more traditional licences. The history of copyright law provides many examples of licensing systems and schemes operating unfairly for individual authors.  It would be unfortunate if the CCL, however well motivated, did the same thing.  Given the significant implications for authors of signing on to a CCL, it would be helpful if you did your best to ensure that authors appreciate more fully the implications of losing both control over the work and important means for compensation. 

The Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale recently published a very good short paper exploring some of the implications of the CCL for individual authors.  See 29 Colum. J.L. & Arts 261 (2006).  Drawing on that paper, I'd suggest you consider whether you should including some or all of the following points  - in user-friendly language -  in a "FAQ" section (while disclaiming any and all obligations for legal advice, etc.):  

1.                  Make explicit the limitation on (indeed, exclusion of) remuneration - so that no author is taken by surprise.

2.                  Explain that the CCL is inconsistent with the subsequent granting of exclusive licences - again, so no author is taken by surprise.

3.                  Explain the implications for authors of signing on to a perpetual licence (excluding revocation other than by breach by the licensee) (cl. 7).  If an author changes her mind, she can stop distributing the work, or choose to distribute subsequent copies with TPMs; however, the copies released under the CCL will likely continute to circulate, stripping the author of the economic value of the work, should she have a change of heart.

4.                  The CCL promises authors some very important rights: attribution, inclusion of copyright information, obligations not to attach TPMs downstream (which may be very important for authors concerned about the free availability of information), etc.  However, it might be useful for authors if you made clear that CCL will not offer them help to enforce the obligations of users under the CCL, should those obligations be breached.

There may be other points, not mentioned here, that may also be relevant.  The CCL can be a very helpful innovation; that said, it is important that the good things it can achieve are not tainted by the sense that it has operated unfairly, or that there was insufficient disclosure of some of its possible implications for authors.  Given that one of the purposes of the CCL is to achieve freer dissemination of information, accompanying the CCL with more information about its implications is unlikely to be objectionable. 

Once again, thanks for copying me in on this. Best wishes for your endeavours:  

Graeme

Graeme W. Austin 
J. Byron McCormick Professor of Law 
Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona 
1201 E. Speedway, Tucson 
AZ 85721-0176 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Tel; 1 520 6263135
http://www.law.arizona.edu/Faculty/getprofile.cfm?facultyid=25

 

 

  _____  

From: Ian Thomson [mailto:ithomson at lycos.com] 
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 3:32 AM
To: ithomson at lycos.com; paul.reynolds at mcgovern.co.nz; sue.Sutherland at natlib.govt.nz; Winston.roberts at natlib.govt.nz; daran.ponter at natlib.govt.nz; colin.jackson at it.gen.nz; richard.niven at clear.net.nz; silke.radde at med.govt.nz; erica.Gregory at med.govt.nz; brian.opie at vuw.ac.nz; s.cunningham at qut.edu.au; zwimpfer at xtra.co.nz; jill at cwa.co.nz; justine.rutherford at minedu.govt.nz; pamela.streeter at minedu.govt.nz; selwyn at shift.co.nz; gillian.vosper at chrometoaster.com; hamish.macewan at gmail.com; craig.holmes at frst.govt.nz; oclare at paradise.net.nz; strypey at riseup.net; chris at positivelywellingtonbusiness.co.nz; director at nzetc.org; Alison.Stevenson at vuw.ac.nz; anarchist at tracs.co.nz
Cc: Graeme W. Austin; cc-nz at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: NZ CC Licence approach

 

Sorry for any double posting, but I am not sure of how many of the people at the Wellington CC meeting have joined the CC list serve. 

We have arrived at a suggestion for generating the New Zealand version of the Creative Commons Licence 

NZ CC Licence approach 


Basically we could use the straight international CC Lisense without any legal problem. Aus had to make a lot of changes due to mandatory requirements in many industries, but this is not a problem for us. 
In general, we suggest that our approach would be to 
1. Change all references and examples to NZ specific ones, thus removing the USA look and feel 
2. Make only essential changes due to unique NZ legal requirements (expected to be very few) 
3. Provide an example CC Attribution Lisense marked up with Track Changes to demonstrate the approach 
4. Explain our proposed approach and distribute the example for comment to as many concerned people as possible. 
5. Review feedback and publish final lisense 

This seems to be a simple and do-able way forward within out self imposed time frame, eg a draft lisense for presentation by Brian's meeting in Auckland in early Oct and the final lisense for the one day workshop on Mon 4th Dec. 

In a seperate, but related exercise, we agreed it would be good to develop a draft Cultural Commons Lisense. This will be a bit harder, but NZ is very advanced in this area and it would be good to contribute our thinking back into the CC domain 

This to be looked at in more detail after we get the NZ CC launched. 

I have attached the marked up Attribution Licence as per above. 

We would appreciate any/all comments on the approch and the documents. 
Please feel free to cirulate this to other interested parties as our approach is as open and inclusive as possible. 

Looking forward to hearung back from you, but please hit the Reply to All button so we can share. 

Note, the Humanities Concill will be meeting ths Friday in Auckland and 1 hour is devoted to discussion of the NC CC status and issues.


Ian Thomson 
Phone 027 449 0081

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