Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Joachim Durchholz <jo AT durchholz.org>]

James Grimmelmann schrieb:
> Are there examples of significant legal disputes that have arisen out of
> disagreements about the use of freeware?  I would think that exactitide
> of license doesn't matter so much.

Well... imagine a company with a mindset that's similar to SCO.
All that's needed is a history similar to SCO's: the old business model 
falters, new management desperately tries to find sources of income, 
reputation is irrelevant since the end is inevitable anyway, so we can 
sue anybody with impunity and hope that it will work often enough to 
drag on another year.

> Or perhaps I am wrong, and there are big legal fights over freeware that
> better licenses could have solved?

I'm not aware of any.
Of course, only SCO had the nerve to sue a heavyweight like IBM.

> The use of CC licenses for software is discouraged (for reasons already
> noted).

I must have overlooked these.
Care to give a short list?

> But you can apply a CC license to software.  For freeware,
> BY-ND seems fairly decent.  Anyone can use the free version; commercial
> intermediaries can make some money distibuting it conveniently; no one
> can make money off of it.  IF you take the freeware business model as
> given, and IF you're not worried about getting the license exactly
> right, BY-ND seems like a perfectly fine license.

Well, getting the license exactly right would definitely be something 
I'd want.
From the perspective of the licensee, that is; the licensor couldn't 
care less. Maybe that's another reason why such a license hasn't been 
drawn up yet.

Regards,
Jo