Development of Creative Commons licenses

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

Terry Hancock skrev:
> Peter Brink wrote:
> > A derivative work must be the result of a _creative act_ originating 
> > from a human being. If a machine down- or upsamples a work there is no 
> > creative act involved, it's a just a mechanical transformation. A 
> > "thumbnail" is therefore a copy and not a derivative work.
>
> Okay, another case:
>
> I write a novel as a raw text file on computer. I sell copies of this
> novel under an ARR "license".
>
> I then run the novel through an automatic filter which removes every
> other chapter and all remaining vowels. There is no creative activity in
> this process -- it's completely automated, and takes perhaps 5-20 lines
> of Python code to implement. I license the reduced work online
> under CC-By-SA.
>
> Do people who have downloaded that work have the right to purchase the
> novel, copy its text, and use it under the By-SA terms?
>
> This seems implausible to me, but it is pretty much the same as the
> image case you describe (a lossy, but uncreative transformation).

In the case above the author has published a copy of his work in the 
form of a printed book. Then later he makes another copy of the work 
available for download under CC-BY-SA license. The license only applies 
to the later copy, even though both publications are copies of the same 
work. The author has explicitly reserved all rights to the first 
publication and only granted additional right to the second copy.

One could also take the stance that the later publication is a new work. 
An author is free to manipulate and modify his works as he sees fit. 
Even if the first publication shares almost 50% of it's content with the 
later, one may argue that the author has created a new work. The text as 
such is a result of a creative act, that the editing process is not, 
does not reduce the originality of the text itself. When an author edits 
a work of his and there is a substantial difference between the original 
and the edited version it's quite likely that a new work has been 
created. If someone else did the same type of editing then a new work 
(or a derivative) work would not be created because this second person 
has not added any original content to the work.

/Peter Brink