Development of Creative Commons licenses

["Steven Ericsson-Zenith" <steven AT semeiosis.com>]

Well, thanks for that - it is an interesting perspective.

However, I think trademarks do apply to this. For example, if I call my 
schema 
the B-schema, and B is my trademark, then either I dilute my mark by using it 
in 
this way or users are required to get a trademark license to advertize the 
B-Schema instance. My understanding is that you are required to provide an 
explicit license the use the term "B-schema" if you want to use your mark.

It is my understanding that any document authored by me is my copyright - 
schema, code or not.  The intellectual property associated with any document
I write is also subject to my ownership under law - even if I have not 
pursued a
patent, since no one else can patent my ideas if I have published it.

I have done enough work in this area to know that the statement "as UK 
copyright 
law is concerned, and it should be fairly similar to the rest of the world" 
is 
niave.  It seems most unlikely despite the wide influence of British 
common law.

I believe that a prohibition of use of the schema that I have suggested would 
be 
enforcable in both the USA and the UK. I await to be corrected by a legal 
authority.

Don't get me started on patent law ... but ... it seems to me that today's 
patent law which provides sweeping protection to a whole range of 
intellectual 
property is broken significantly in the favor of large corporations and does 
not 
serve individual inventors.  I would campaign to change the patent law in a 
number of ways compatible with both the US constitution and the rights of the 
individual inventor. But, as it stands, I concede it is broken and immoral.

I am a US patent holder and have personally filed here and in Europe. The 
associated costs are an outrage.
 
With respect,
Steven



Geraint Paul Bevan wrote ..
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> Steven wrote:
> 
> | What I have in mind is that perhaps there is some assertion that
> | can be made in the copyright of the XML schema that specifies the
> | copyright of instance documents.
> 
> 
> I am not a lawyer and I am not an expert on copyright or patents.
> However, I suspect that you may not be able to impose constraints on
> users of your schema.
> 
> As far as UK copyright law is concerned, and it should be fairly similar
> to the rest of the world, there are limits on what is subject to
> copyright protection:
> 
> 
> Quoting:
> http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/std/faq/copyright/what_protected.htm
> 
> 
> "Copyright gives rights to the creators of the following kinds of
> material or "works":
> 
> "    * original literary works - for example, novels, newspaper
> articles, lyrics for songs, and instruction manuals. Computer programs
> are also a form of literary work protected by copyright, as are some
> types of databases
> 
> [ a list of other things that certainly are not software ]
> 
> "Copyright does not protect ideas, names or titles, or functional or
> industrial articles."
> 
> 
> 
> Consequently, your XML schema definition may not be protected by
> copyright (as an industrial article) and I would very much doubt that
> instantiation of it would be.
> 
> As far as patent protection is concerned, you only get that if you pay
> for it and go through the whole process of applying through the patent
> office. In Europe, software patents are not (yet) valid in most
> circumstances. In the US they are, but you would probably need to
> demonstrate some originality and technical innovation.
> 
> Trademarks do not apply in this case.
> 
> As a non-lawyer and non-expert in the field, I doubt that there is very
> much "intellectual property" that you can protect.
> 
> 
> - --
> Geraint Bevan
> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/geraint.bevan
> 
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