Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Rob Myers <rob AT robmyers.org>]

On 13 Aug 2006, at 23:09, Peter Brink wrote:

> Rob Myers skrev:
> > Notes by section:
> >
> > 1 b
> >
> > I assume that the concept of "adaptation" is a genericisation of
> > "derivative". But Berne uses the term "derivative", and "adaptation"
> > is listed as a kind of derivative. If this is a grey area how about
> > something like GPL-3's "a work based on the program", for example "a
> > new work based on the licensed work" or "a new work containing some
> > or all of the licensed work".
>
> Frankly, I find "adaptation" an much more intuitive term than
> "derivative". The term "derivative" to me implies that the rights to a
> work, that can be traced, even in a very minor way, back to an other
> authors work, is dependent on the rights to the original work, and  
> this
> may very well not be the case. In fact, from my POW, the the usage of
> the term "derivative" implies an unfair _extension_ of the rights  
> of the
> copyright holder.
>
> Further, for people with little knowledge about copyright law, the  
> term
> "adaptation" also points in the right direction (in most cases - the
> U.S. being a notable exception). If they would look the word
> "adaptation" up in a dictionary they would get an explanation which is
> pretty close to the actual legal term used in their national  
> copyright law.
>
> So, to me, the usage of "adaptation" makes the license more clear and
> less ambiguous.

I do remember the first time I got into a debate about what a  
"derivative" was, and it's not a term that people seem to get without  
explanation. If "adaptation" is clearer then that should be used  
instead.

For me personally the problem with "adaptation" is that it I'm used  
to a use of the word that is more limited than "derivative". So  
"adaptation" would just mean a television or film version of a book.  
And in fact the dictionary that I am looking at uses this definition.  
It does not mean a sample of a piece of music used to make another  
piece of music, for example.

But this is my opinion rather than any sort of legal argument. I  
think the important thing for the International license is that  
"adaptation" is a subset of "derivation" in Bern. If that is legally  
harmless and using "adaptation" is clearer and doesn't preclude  
sampling then OK.

- Rob.