Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Rob Myers <robmyers AT mac.com>]

 On Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at 04:01AM, <email AT greglondon.com> wrote:

>I still don't understand how any claim made by
>Sauramon in his falsely labeled license will
>protect Sarah and her mom from the Evil Menudo Gestapo.

IANAL, but there's several issues.

The warranty thing, which SCO have majorly misrepresented, would mean that 
Sarahmon is representing that the music won't blow up your speakers. It just 
means that the product is safe to use and is usable for what you expect. 
Disclaimers of warranty are very common, see EULAs, book inside covers, etc. 
These mean you use the product at your own risk, which is important if 
producers don't want to get sued out of existence.

The representation thing, which AFAICT is a no-brainer, is representing that 
you have the right to contribute or use a work as open content. I don't know 
why this is in some licenses but as those licenses have been drawn up by 
teams of experienced and well-paid lawyers it must be important. Possibly 
breach of license is easier than breach of copyright, I don't know. Possibly 
it does allow you to point your finger and say "but they said!". I don't 
know, and I don't think it compares to unknowingly receiving stolen goods. 
See films that include other films, CDs that include samples and novels that 
include songs or poems for examples of representing authority to use (not 
contribute...) other people's work.

The indemnification thing, which will be increasingly important, means that 
Sarahmon (or someone) sells Sarah insurance so that if it turns out Sarahmon 
made a mistake with the source of the music, Sarah is insured against the 
RIAA trying to bankrupt her. See 
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040113030146793
but do remember that open source is not trying to steal other people's stuff 
as currently understood, whereas p2p generally is (as currently understood. I 
think the radio comparison may be useful).

There really should be a book on open source/content law, or at least a big 
wikipedia section.

- Rob.