Development of Creative Commons licenses

["Jonathon Blake" <jonathon.blake AT gmail.com>]

Drew wrote:

> > BY-NC-ND can be relabelled as _The Usage is Banned Licence_
> Not so sure this description fits. You can "use" such a book to read or as a
> door stop... ?

I've seen scripts for plays, and scores for music with that licence.
I'm fairly confident that the person who used that licence has no idea
what it allows,and what it prohibits.

> A bit off topic here... Is it legal for a for profit entity to download NC
> documents off of web sites?

Technically,  no.

> My initial thought was, it must be, after all it is legal to download "all
> rights reserved" documents off of web sites.

CC-NC is a EULA.  As such, it is technically _more_ restrictive than
ARR would be.

> Finding an NC document though? Here we have an up front notice that for profit
> entities / uses are not allowed.
> Is this crazy?

No.  It plainly identifies the EULA that the material is distributed under.

It does illustrate why the NC is not a "Free" licence.

> > The other NC variants can be called _The Free Non Commercial Licence_.
>
> Since this one would not pass the tests you point to above, I would suggest
> the word free not come into the name if we want to avoid confusion along

I thought up the names on the spur of the moment.  _The Gratis
Licence_ would be a more appropriate name.

> Do we need to bite the bullet and start using libre and gratis more?

Probably.  I meant "free" qua "gratis" in _Free Non Commercial_.
Obviously thaat name is bad, if people think "libre" as opposed to
"gratis".

> . I am not convinced that the CC umbrella brand is a necessarily hurtful thing
> if there were to be a clear distinction between the Free and non-Free
> licenses. The association under the one umbrella might serve as an
> introduction / stepping stone.

If the CC umbrella is used,  then the licences have to have names that
are even more distinctive than I used.

Brand names are useful --- until they are extended.  Then the
extensions kill the brand.  [This can be clearly seen in the change in
market share during both the cola wars and the beer wars.]

I'd hazard that more  people equate a CC licence with "no commercial
usage", than as a libre orientated licence.

xan

jonathon