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cc-licenses - Re: License that allows private copying?

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Subject: Development of Creative Commons licenses

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  • From: Scott Johnston <johnston AT vectaport.com>
  • To: cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: License that allows private copying?
  • Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 12:01:25 -0800

Thanks for all the discussion so far. I'm not subscribed to the list, so my reply might not be threaded with the rest.

Let me clarify that I am asking about something more than what fair-use allows, something more than a limited number of copies for personal backup or scholastic reasons (and you don't need a license for that). Evan Prodromou comments seem most on target:

<x-tad-bigger>First, how would you enforce it? What is an "associate"? If I met
someone 10 minutes ago at a bar, can I give them a copy of the work?
Are you going to check to see if I _really_ know that person? What if
I know someone through the Internet, but we've never met in person?

Also, it doesn't seem that effective. Say Alice has your work, and she
gives a copy to Bob. Bob, in turn, gives one to Charlie, and Charlie
gives a copy to Dave. Alice and Dave don't know each other, but now
Dave has a copy. The effect is just like if Alice gave Dave a copy
directly, so what's the advantage?

If the idea is to allow redistribution by individuals but not big
copy-generating operations, maybe the NonCommercial option would suit
your needs. Otherwise, you should consult a lawyer in your area.

~ESP</x-tad-bigger>


At one-time I thought it rather difficult to tease apart commercial from non-commercial use with a copyright permission notice. But Creative Commons has taken a big step in formalizing that. Hence my curiousity if a distinction between private and public distribution (copying) can similarily be formalized into a copyright permission notice.

Note, I'm not referring to personal copying (but you were not confused by that). I want to allow almost anything short of globally anonymous distribution. I want to allow e-mail friends to be able to make a copy. I want to allow a teacher to be able to distribute a copy to each student. I wouldn't quibble if a university allowed distribution to its entire student body. But I especially want to allow a group of friends to give each other copies, so they can share the use of the copyrighted work without breaking the law.

For this particular copyrighted work I would start with an Attribution-Non-Commercial license. Then I would mix in a Private clause if one existed. My test for whether the copying was private would be whether I could get a copy (for free or otherwise) by finding it on google.

Scott Johnston

On Mar 24, 2004, at 9:02 AM, Scott Johnston wrote:

Has there been discussion at Creative Commons (or elsewhere) of developing a license that makes a distinction between public and private copying? Something that extends the fair-use privileges protected by the Sony video tape decision to allow a person to privately distribute copies to their associates, but forbids them from making it available to the public?

Scott Johnston




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