Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Peter Brink <peter.brink AT brinkdata.se>]

Michael Tiemann skrev:
> The text of the CC:BY 2.5 license deed (simplified text) says:
>
>         Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified
>         by the author or licensor.
>
>         [ From http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ ]
>
> This is much more broad than what the underlying legal code actually
> says, permits, or requires.  For example: say I'm the CEO of FUBAR Inc.
> I offer a software package under CC:BY, and the manner of attribution I
> specify is "whenever you use this software, you must wear a FUBAR T-
> shirt over your regular shirt.  And FUBAR T-shirts cost $10,000 each,
> purchased from our website, http://fubar.biz ".  The detailed license
> text paints a much more narrow definition of attribution than this, but
> the deed text seems to allow, if not encourage, such extravagant
> requirements.
>
> How can we better characterize what is fair and reasonable attribution
> so that CC:BY has a sensibly bounded scope, both in short-hand and long-
> hand forms?

It's the legal code that constitutes the contract (licence, deal or 
whatever you want to call it), not the deed. If there's is a direct 
difference btw the deed and the code, the code takes precedence. If 
there's an ambiguity in the code then the deed can be used to support 
interpretations if the code.

So, if you are uncertain about how to deal with attribution you have to 
turn to the legal code for guidance.

/Peter Brink