Development of Creative Commons licenses

["Branko Collin" <collin AT xs4all.nl>]

On 20 Oct 2004, at 2:37, DOKool AT aol.com wrote:

> So, I suppose the big question is, can our vids be protected in any
> way under Creative Commons?  It's a tricky ethical issue to navigate,
> but I'd like to know what the general feeling is on the issue.

Not having read the rest of your message, my eye was hooked by this 
paragraph. Works are not protected by copyright; they are damaged by 
it. I firmly believe that information wants to be free. Free to be 
distributed, mashed up, ripped, mixed and burned. 

What copyright protects, is the author. 

Also, you mentioned video theft. I think what you mean is 
infringement. The reason lawyers came up with distinct terms, is 
because they refer to distinct things.

The reason it is important to use the right term, is because you 
otherwise polute the debate. You get both parties involved stuck in 
trenches, calling each other names. And I got the impression from 
your mail (and from the very fact that you asked your question here 
in the first place) that you want to steer away from that, that you 
want arguments to stand for themselves, without needing to resort to 
name calling.

By now I have read your question. (IANAL, BTW.) You write: "purchase 
existing source (both footage and music)". Do you mean these people 
acquire a license, or buy the rights? If the former, a license to do 
what? It almost sounds as if in a pool of copyright infringers, 
everybody is calling each other copyright infringer.

> The problem is that AMVs, and derivative fan-works in general, 
> fall under many questions of ownership.

I am not sure what you mean by "questions". Those who created, own; 
unless they sold their rights. There is no grey area here. If the 
makers of the AMVs did not secure rights with all that came before 
them, and did not buy the rights, they may very well be infringing on 
other persons' copyrights. (Unless these anime works are in the 
public domain--doubtful--, or the works already were distributed with 
a license that permits derivatives.)

Although you could distribute these derivatives under a CC license, I 
doubt that license would be very valuable; it would probably (again, 
depending under which rights the originals were distributed) only 
apply to the added material, and perhaps not even that. 


-- 
branko collin
collin AT xs4all.nl