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cc-jo - Re: [CC-Jordan] Comments on CCPL Jordanian Arabic License

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Subject: CC Jordan

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  • From: Rami Olwan <ramiolwan AT yahoo.com>
  • To: cc-jo AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [CC-Jordan] Comments on CCPL Jordanian Arabic License
  • Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:46:25 -0700 (PDT)

Dear Ahmad Gharbeia,

Many thanks for your interest in the CC Jordan project. We need many
reviewers like you who have specific comments about the license and its
translation. I am sorry I cannot reply in Arabic since my keyboard is in
Latin characters. I have read your comments and I believe some of them are
quite important. I am not going to go into detail now, but will give a
general answer to stimulate the discussion further until we provide detailed
specific answer on each comment you have raised if we deem that is necessary.

As for the title of the license, it is true that we have mixed between the
license itself and the legal code. We have tried to find a proper translation
for both of them, but unfortunately we did not find a proper translation for
“legal code” as there is no proper terminology in Arabic, that is why we
decided to join the words to make things clear. I agree with your comment
that we should stick to the translation of “creative commons license”, and
find words that give the linguistic and legal meaning to “legal code” if that
is possible.

The translation to Arabic of “creative commons” is a more controversial
matter. One suggestion that we should follow the translation of Arabic
wikipedia that uses the terms “omameyat” rather than “mashaa” that we used in
the Jordanian CCPL Arabic license. I think that we are not obliged to follow
what has been used earlier for "creative commons" in the Arabic wikipedia
since it is just a suggestion, and there is no official translation of the
word, furthermore our job is mainly to find proper wording that give the
needed legal meaning in Arabic.

I suggest to stick with “mashaa” since legally speaking the law does not
recognize the concept of “omameyat” and it sound weird, but the word “mashaa”
is known and found in legal writings especially property law. Jordanian and
Arab legal scholars use the term “mashaa” for air and water and the idea of
creative commons “tragedy of the commons” in western legal writings was taken
from that as well, but of course its application in the context of
information commons and creative commons is not found still in any Arabic
legal writings.

One thing that I have to emphasis is that we have tried to follow the
original language of the Jordanian Copyright Law as much as possible as the
main aim of the localizing process is to make the American CCPL license
enforceable when brought before a Jordanian Court and a judge who is familiar
primarily with Jordanian Laws. For that reason, the terminology and
definitions used resemble entirely the Jordanian Copyright Law; that is
applicable on the legal word “collection” and many other words that their
exact translation from English to Arabic may lead otherwise, but our guide is
the Jordanian law itself and nothing else.

As for your other linguistic comments, I think they should be studied
carefully. Ziad will provide in due course a detailed response to each one of
them. Please feel free to comments on any of the above and provide us with
your further comments if that is possible. We look forward to hearing from
you or any other interested reviewer. Thanks everybody for your support.

Regards,

Rami Olwan









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