Development of Creative Commons licenses

[drew Roberts <zotz AT 100jamz.com>]

On Tuesday 06 June 2006 08:48 am, Nancy Ide wrote:
> On Jun 5, 2006, at 6:15 PM, Peter Brink wrote:
> > I really don't understand your problem. Why would your data-mining
> > project violate anyones copyright? What is your infringement case,
> > that
> > is how do you think you would violate the copyright of the works you
> > gather statistics from?
>
> This is the legal advice from the lawyers at the University of
> Pennsylvania's Linguistic Data Consortium, which distributes the ANC.
> We are re-distributing the texts, with restrictions for commercial
> users (see our licenses at http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/Projects/ANC/ ),
> and this apparently would violate the share-alike and non-commercial
> strictures. Share-alike says we have to allow them to re-distribute
> themselves, and we don't let commercial users do so (although
> research users can).

OK, but in the case of BY-SA, why can't you adapt your license to allow for 
re-distributing where the underlying work is BY-SA?
>
> But I agree with you. What we do with the texts isn't going to
> violate any copyright laws *in spirit*, and if we went to court over
> it we may even win. But my guess is the UPenn lawyers want to avoid
> even the remote possibility of a lawsuit, whether or not we have a case.

I try to avoid those possibilities myself, so I can understand that sentiment.
>
> What does this group think? By downloading a CC licensed text from
> the web, adding some linguistic info to it and re-distributing it for
> research use, with strong strictures on re-publication (e.g., putting
> a whole text out on the web again), do we violate the CC license? 

There is no CC license. They are different enough that you have to consider 
each individually as far as I can see.

> I 
> would like to hear from someone who is from CC on this, because if it
> were felt we could use CC licensed texts that specify share-alike and
> non-commercial, we'd be in very good shape.
>
> I think it is clear that what the CC licenses intend to say about use
> of the materials is that (a) if a text is re-distributed it has to be
> done under the same terms; and (b) there should be no commercial use
> of the materials, i.e., re-publishing them for profit etc. We are not
> doing that, 

Excuse me, I may once again misunderstand what you are doing, but it seems to 
me that you are indeed re-publishing/redistributing them. In fact, you may be 
making derivatives and distributing those derivatives.

If you are not, then you have not explained what you are doing clearly enough 
for someone as dense as I am to understand.

> but it is a gray area as to whether using the text to 
> gather statistics about language use and then publishing a dictionary
> on that basis is a commercial use. 

Would you need permission from an "ARR" author to gather such statistics from 
their novel and publish a dictionary based on those stats?

> Common sense says it is not a 
> violation, but common sense and the law (especially in this new and
> murky area) are not always in synch.

Now, you have certainly hit the nail onthe head there.
>
> Any thoughts on this issue would be welcome.

I think it might be better to give us all a better explanation of the whole 
process and the "products" at each stage. (And who has access to the products 
of each stage.)

I also feel a bit left out. ~;-) I am sure I don't fit in the English. I 
don't 
fit in the American. Where, oh where, do I fit? I did grow up on Captain 
Kangaroo, Skipper Chuck, Hogan's Heros, Get Smart and the rest of American 
Network Television. Oh well. Dem's da breaks.
>
> Thanks,
> Nancy Ide

all the best,

drew
-- 
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/145261
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