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cc-licenses - Re: [cc-licenses] Licence Upgrades

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Subject: Development of Creative Commons licenses

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  • From: Terry Hancock <hancock AT anansispaceworks.com>
  • To: Discussion on the Creative Commons license drafts <cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [cc-licenses] Licence Upgrades
  • Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 20:32:53 -0600

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 19:15:24 -0500
Harlan Lieberman-Berg
<sysadmin AT tacticalbusinesspartners.com> wrote:
> Well, I am not a lawyer as well, but I believe that the
> language which you have quoted would explicitly DENY the
> rights to upgrade. After all, it does say (e.g.
> Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Japan)." Which includes the
> version number...

"e.g." = "exemplis gratis" = "for example"

The language in parentheses does not have any legal force,
it merely clarifies the text before it, which explicitly
allows three options for "sharing alike":

1) You may use the same license.

2) You may use a later version of the same-named license
(hence, CC-By-SA 2.0 allows conversion to CC-By-SA 2.5). I
am sure they got this idea from the GPL's license grant
example.

3) You may use an alternate jurisdictional representation of
the same-named license. This is unique to the CC licenses,
AFAIK -- most either insist on a legal venue or (like the
GPL) insist on interpretation of the English-language
license, which might be kind of dicey. I wouldn't be
surprised if GPL3 borrows this multi-jurisdiction license
idea from CC.

The example describes one such possibility: the license may
be converted from CC-By-SA 2.0-en to CC-By-SA 2.0-jp. But
there are obviously many other possibilities that fall
within the allowances.

Allowances 2+3 also means you can use a later version of
an alternate jurisdictional version of the license, by
subsequent redistribution. Though, admittedly this is
fuzzier.

> > This language, according to many on this list, means
> > that when you create a Derivative Work, you may choose
> > to upgrade the license to a later version.

I agree.

> > Please note, that they are not lawyers as I understand,
> > their opinions not legal advice, nor are they speaking
> > to represent official opinion of the Creative Commons.

All true of me, anyway. If you want legal advice, hire a
lawyer -- even lawyers have to eat. ;-)

> > Non-SA licenses do not have this type of language, as I
> > remember. SA 1.0 licenses do not have it, either.

"Non-SA" licenses wouldn't need it -- since it is a
legal *definition* of "sharing alike".

--
Terry Hancock (hancock AT AnansiSpaceworks.com)
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com





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