Cc-europe mailing list

[Paul Keller <paul AT creativecommons.org>]

Dear all, 

Thanks for your responses to the consultation on Extended Collecting 
Societies, which were helpful for us in determining our next steps. This was 
a limited consultation on Extended Collective Licensing, to resolve one of 
the few remaining open questions about CC's handling of collecting societies.

Based on what we've received, we think that the results are inconclusive 
enough that they don't justify any specific change in the way 4.0 handles 
this issue.

Though the language in 4.0d2 around collecting societies has been simplified, 
it is intended to have the same effect as it does in 3.0. The language in 3.0 
is unambiguous --  it does not waive artists' right to collect royalties 
(however so collected, by any type of collecting society) in jurisdictions 
where they cannot opt out of having it collected for the uses allowed by the 
chosen license.  (NB:  The waiver applies only to uses granted by the 
license, not more generally.  For uses not permitted, such as commercial uses 
not authorized by the -NC licenses, the right to collect is not waived but 
fully reserved.) If some collecting societies choose to interpret this 
provision differently despite its clear statement to the contrary, we do not 
think further revising the language in hopes that they will interpret a new 
version differently is productive.

(We did not consider any other related issues during this consultation.  In 
particular, we did not revisit the policy of requiring waiver of royalties 
(where possible) for uses the licenses allow. CC cannot be everything to 
everyone; where this option is important to a particular licensor, CC's 
licenses may simply be the wrong choice for them.)

The responses to the questionnaire are posted here: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CWIuLNDIMnwG34Gwh6i9aOU9hP55fr3eIsNr-L7PKYo/edit
  
As this is most directly relevant to you, this is to let you know first. We 
will post to the public lists shortly.

Thanks to everyone who spend the time completing the questionnaire.  We'll be 
posting the responses for the general public (with proper disclaimers etc.) 
when we post to the main list.

all the best from Amsterdam, 
Paul 
--
Paul Keller | Creative Commons Collecting Societies Liaison | 
paul AT creativecommons.org