Development of Creative Commons licenses

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

Peter Brink skrev:
> In my book the low and high resolution images are the same work. The
> license is obviously worded so that all versions of a work (but not
> derivative works created by the licensor) are covered by the license.
> All versions or editions of a work are thus covered by the grant in
> section 3 (license grant). So - yes - if you offered a low resolution
> image under BY-SA, the high resolution image (being the same work) would
> also be available under the same terms. That outcome might not be
> intended by some (many?) licensor's but it follows from the language of
> the license. Btw I seem to recall that this issue (or a very similar
> one) has been discussed (to some length) on this list - can't remember
> how long ago.

One argument in favour of an alternative interpretation of the license 
would be that the incorporation of the license deed, full legal code or 
Uniform Resource Identifier for the license with the work is the only 
visible indication of the intention of the licensor to offer the work 
under the terms of the license. In other words, copies (published by the 
licensor) that lacks any such statements are not offered under the 
license since there is no clear indication of that such copies are not 
published under _other_ terms (such as ARR). So if a user would like to 
take a high resolution copy of an image offered under BY-SA in low 
resolution to a print shop and there is ARR statement on the high 
resolution image then the license offered for the low resolution image 
would not "pollute" the high resolution image.

This argument is based:
a) on the widely used presumption that a copyright holder never yields 
more rights than he expressly has agreed to. However, such presumptions 
may not be applicable in all jurisdictions; and
b) on the fact that the license is non-exclusive. The licensor can make 
copies available under any number of licenses. Then the license must 
apply only to those copies so designated.

/Peter Brink