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cc-licenses - License Proposal: Non-Copyleft Free Content License

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Subject: Development of Creative Commons licenses

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  • From: Thomas Uwe Gruettmueller <sloyment AT gmx.net>
  • To: Discussion on the Creative Commons license drafts <cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: License Proposal: Non-Copyleft Free Content License
  • Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2003 03:01:02 +0200

Hi, (IANAL TINLA)

I have noticed that there is not yet a non-copyleft free content
license on your website. Instead, you encourage people to put
their work into the Public Domain. This is a bit problematic,
because AFAIK, in Germany and other parts of Europe, the only
way to do so is to die and then wait 70 years, i.e. it is not
possible to abandon ones own copyright.

Besides that, a non-copyleft license would also be useful for
compatibility reasons, until one day there will finally be one
accepted *standard* copyleft license for free content (or a
copyleft law or no copyright law anymore).

Therefore, I hereby propose the non-copyleft license below.
Please check it for legal or logical incosistencies. Maybe you
would like to consider adding it or a derivate thereof to your
license collection.

The proposed license explicitly lists all the rights that are
enumerated in the German Authors Rights Law (s. ยง15 ff), thus
explicitly allowing broadcasting, public playback etc. IMHO it
should also list further usages that require permission under
other jurisdictions, if there are any.

The license however features some voluntary copyleft clauses that
are not legally binding. They are only there to clarify the
intention of the license, but their wording would IMHO be too
vague and ambingous to make them legally binding. It has turned
out to be too difficult for me to design a logically consistent
copyleft license.

cu,
Thomas }:o{#
- - - - -

Non-Copyleft Free Content License
---------------------------------

This license inteds to grant the users of a work the maximum
of freedom, while staying compatible with other free content
licenses. This license applies to any work that has a note
attached, stating to be is licensed under this license.


You and everybody else are granted free of charge the
non-exclusive, perpetual right to do whatever you like with
the work, including but not limited to the right

* to copy or record the work,

* to distribute the copies or recordings,

* to exhibit the work (e.g. in its physical form),

* to recite, to perform, or to otherwise realize the work,

* to broadcast the work,

* to play back the work in the public (e.g. from a recording or
transmission), and

* to make it available in public networks.

You are also allowed to modify your copies of the works, and to
execute the above rights on the modified work.


You are encouraged, but not required

* to license your modified versions of the work to everybody
under the same terms,

* to allow other people to freely record and reuse your
performances, and also to encourage them to do so,

* to publish a note on each copy, thus informing the public
that the work is freely licensed, and

* to give the authors and performers of the work attribution.


THE WORK COMES AS IS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.

- - - - -



  • License Proposal: Non-Copyleft Free Content License, Thomas Uwe Gruettmueller, 10/31/2003

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