Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Mike Linksvayer <ml AT creativecommons.org>]

Rob Myers wrote:
> Here's how the OGL (http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/ogl.html)  
> handles it:
>
> "5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing  
> original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your  
> Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient  
> rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License."
>
> Not how this creates a compartmentalised risk pyramid, rather than  
> passing all risk down as the GPL does. You claim that what you  
> distribute is yours to distribute. This is what you claim by publishing  
> something anyway! So a CC license shouldn't try to *reduce* the claims  
> an individual makes by distributing something!

That does sound very reasonable.

I'm glad that you posted that clause from the OGL -- I was going to look 
at it, RSN.  I note that the IBM's CPL 
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/cpl.php has a very similar clause, 2d:

"Each Contributor represents that to its knowledge it has sufficient 
copyright rights in its Contribution, if any, to grant the copyright 
license set forth in this Agreement."

> A 5a more like the OGL's 5 would silence the teeny-bloggers and manage  
> risk. The baby would stay, the bathwater would be gone. :-)

It does sound a lot less scary than the explicit warranty in CC 1.0 
licenses.  Is it materially different?  Is "representing" less strong or 
otherwise distinct from "warranting"?

--
  Mike Linksvayer
  http://creativecommons.org/learn/aboutus/people#21