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cc-licenses - CC & other forms of IP -- puzzled

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Subject: Development of Creative Commons licenses

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  • From: Johannes Ernst <jernst+lists.ibiblio.org AT netmesh.us>
  • To: cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: CC & other forms of IP -- puzzled
  • Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 14:45:59 -0800

If someone publishes a scientific article, my understanding is that the copyright on that article only covers the actual article, but not the concepts and ideas described.

For example, if a modern Edison published an article about having invented the lightbulb, copyright law deals with somebody making copies of the article, but not with other people wanting to compete in producing light bulbs. So if Edison said: "copy this article as often as you like" he'd not in fact be granting a license to his invention (which he patented I believe).

On the other hand, open source licenses for software seem to be commonly interpreted as granting not only a license under copyright (e.g. "you may copy-paste this subroutine") but also under patent law (e.g. "you may do a clean-room implementation").

Not being a lawyer: I am correct so far?

Reading through the CC licenses, it appears to me that they are very silent on the issue of IP rights other than copyright in works covered by CC licenses.

In my example above, if Edison released his scientific article on lightbulbs under a CC license, would or would he not have granted competitors the right to manufacture light bulbs, royalty-free? Or is an answer to this question simply not known at this time, probably inviting decades of lawsuits if one used CC under these circumstances? ;-)





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