Development of Creative Commons licenses

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

Jake wrote:

> I'm trying to better understand the noncommercial attribution
> what is "commercial" usage?

Unfortunately, there is no definition for either "commercial", nor
"non-commercial".   The immediate result of that, is that "commercial"
usage gets defined to exclude whatever the licensor wants it to
exclude.

> - Using an image in a powerpoint slide for your business venture (or
> - Using an image on a web site for your business or organization

The CC Guidelines state that usage by an organization that is not 501
3 (c) or an individual is "commercial".  [Which also means that your
local government can't use the material either.]

My position is that the major point of the NC licence, is to enforce
gratis distribution of the material.

> making it easy enough that I don't have to be a lawyer to understand. :)

Ideally that would be the case. There have been reports here, and
elsewhere, of the licences doing the opposite of what the individual
expected.  Sometimes it was because the individual simply didn't
understand the licence.  Other times, it is because the licence is
counter-intuitive. Still other instances are because the licence
allows that which has been, in their field, disallowed by tradition.

xan

jonathon