Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Jonathon Blake <jonathon.blake AT gmail.com>]

Mia wrote:

NonCommercialGuidelines.pdf attached.

Question:

What licence is that document distributed under?

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>(http://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/NonCommercial_use_cases)

That is a useful page
One suggestion. Replace "yes" with "acceptable", and "no" with "prohibited".
[I _think_ that s the right exchange to make.  If it isn't, then the
change should have been done yesterday.]

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Now for my comments:

i(C) has a typo (US1).  [The "1" should be a superscript.]

Is there a discussion somewhere on why "religious organizations" would
not qualify s legitimate NC users?

Somewhere in that document should be a mention of when it is
acceptable for a business entity to use an NC work.

Two examples from the wiki demonstrate why I think that should be included:
    *  Company Y makes 200 paper copies of a by-nc 2.0 programming
language manual and distributes it to all engineers in the company.
[no? Is this distribution?]
    * Company Y keeps one copy of a by-nc 2.0 programming language
manual in its company library. Engineers can use the manual for
reference. [yes? Is this distribution?]

I suspect that a licence that out-right prohibits organizations other
than non-profits from using covered material, will be ruled invalid.

Under the current interpretation, any government usage of material
with a NC licence is prohibited.

Likewise, a corporation sole is prohibited from using the material. [
They have one or two alternatives to  501 3 (c) registration with the
IRS. (And yes, I know that the number of entities that incorporated as
corporation sole is minuscule. It is legitimately used by religious
organizations, and government agencies.)]

I think that covers the range of potential users.

> However, we have attempted to craft these guidelines to resolve some of the 
> more common and pressing questions about what is and what is not a 
> noncommercial use in the CC world.

E. (1) (b) (iii)
The escape clause here would permit an organization to "sell" the NC
material, by offering it as a premium for contributing a certain
amount. The question is "at what point does offering a premium
constitute selling?"

##

Something else not addressed is when a commercial entity creates, and
then distributes material that has an NC licence.

One entity that does so, currently tells it clients --- which are
commercial ventures --- that as long as the client doesn't directly
compete with them, they don't care how the clients distribute the
material.

#########

I distribute most of my material under a NC licence. More
specifically, I try to use a licence that complies with Matthew 10:8.

Between the E. (1) (b) (iii) exemption for selling material, and the
proposal that religious organization be classified as something other
than "legitimate NC users", I may have lost any reason to use any CC
licence.

xan

jonathon
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