Development of Creative Commons licenses

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

Greg London skrev:
> What are you talking about? Of course a CC license transfers
> some rights. Just not the rights that someone like
> ASCAP would purchase.

You don't really understand how a copyright license works do you? A 
license _does not_ transfer any copyrights. The word transfer has a 
specific legal meaning. It means a full transfer of ownership of an 
object from one entity to another. A copyright license "leases" some of 
the powers the licensor owns to the licensee. The licensor still owns 
the copyright. This scenario can of course be more complex than this if 
we are dealing with a chain of sub-licenses.

An open source/open content license however does not let the licensee 
lease parts of a copyright. Such licenses _lends_ a part of the 
licensor's copyright to the licensees. This is however not an 
unconditional loan, it comes with some terms and conditions.

A right is something I can demand. If I borrow something I cannot demand 
to be allowed to do what the owner will not let me do. I have no real 
rights. An source/open content license makes a licensee free to use a 
copyrightable object in ways he might not have done otherwise.

To me the use of "freedom" in this context is fully accurate.

/Peter Brink