Development of Creative Commons licenses

["Jessica Coates" <j2.coates AT qut.edu.au>]

>From having looked at the language of the licence fairly thoroughly, my
conclusion re the licensing of derivative works has been that you can
distribute them under a narrower licence, but not a broader licence.

For example, you can license a derivative containing material from a
'Sampling Plus' licence (which allows commercial uses) under a 'Sampling'
licence (which doesn't allow commercial uses) - but not vice versa.

This is basically because while you have the right to place restrictions on
your own work, you cannot pass on more rights in the original work (which is
still represented in the derivative work) than you yourself received. So if
you didn't receive commercial use rights, you can't give them to others.

This is also supported by the licence compatibility table on the CC FAQ Wiki
(http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ). Note that though the table doesn't
say so, it applies only to the licensing of derivative works.

Though I agree - the language of the licence could be clearer on this issue.


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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 22:51:37 -0500
From: Terry Hancock <hancock AT anansispaceworks.com>
Subject: [cc-licenses] Clarification of "sampling"
To: cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <4653BA49.5000302 AT anansispaceworks.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

What licensing limitations exist with respect to derivations made via
sampling of "CC Sampling" or "CC Sampling Plus" licenses?

I'm seeing apparent contradictions between the "deed" promises and the
actual wording of the license.

Here is the language (from version 1.0) that appears to grant the right
to use samples.

However, it seems to be quite vague on the subject of how the license
affects the use of sampled works. Note that it permits you to "create
and reproduce" derivative works, but it doesn't say what terms can apply
to them. For example, it would seem intuitive that one could re-license
sampled works under other licenses (if not, the effect would be
remarkably confining).


"""
3. License Grant & Restrictions. Subject to the terms and conditions
   of this License, Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide,
   royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual (for the duration of the
   applicable copyright) license to exercise the rights in the Work as
   stated below on the conditions as stated below:

   a. Re-creativity permitted. You may create and reproduce Derivative
   Works, provided that:

         i. the Derivative Work(s) constitute a good-faith partial or
         recombined usage employing "sampling," "collage," "mash-up,"
         or other comparable artistic technique, whether now known or
         hereafter devised, that is highly transformative of the
         original, as appropriate to the medium, genre, and market
         niche; and

         ii. Your Derivative Work(s) must only make a partial use of
         the original Work, or if You choose to use the original Work
         as a whole, You must either use the Work as an insubstantial
         portion of Your Derivative Work(s) or transform it into
         something substantially different from the original Work. In
         the case of a musical Work and/or audio recording, the mere
         synchronization ("synching") of the Work with a moving image
         shall not be considered a transformation of the Work into
         something substantially different.

   b. You may distribute copies or phonorecords of, display publicly,
   perform publicly, and perform publicly by means of a digital audio
   transmission, any Derivative Work(s) authorized under this License.

   c. Prohibition on advertising. All advertising and promotional uses
   are excluded from the above rights, except for advertisement and
   promotion of the Derivative Work(s) that You are creating from the
   Work and Yourself as the author thereof.
"""

-- 
Terry Hancock (hancock AT AnansiSpaceworks.com)
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 00:03:23 -0400
From: James Grimmelmann <james AT grimmelmann.net>
Subject: Re: [cc-licenses] Clarification of "sampling"
To: Discussion on the Creative Commons license drafts
        <cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <4653BD0B.5040000 AT grimmelmann.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Terry Hancock wrote:
> What licensing limitations exist with respect to derivations made via
> sampling of "CC Sampling" or "CC Sampling Plus" licenses?
> 
> I'm seeing apparent contradictions between the "deed" promises and the
> actual wording of the license.
> 
> Here is the language (from version 1.0) that appears to grant the right
> to use samples.
> 
> However, it seems to be quite vague on the subject of how the license
> affects the use of sampled works. Note that it permits you to "create
> and reproduce" derivative works, but it doesn't say what terms can apply
> to them. For example, it would seem intuitive that one could re-license
> sampled works under other licenses (if not, the effect would be
> remarkably confining).


Why would there be any restrictions on the terms one could use to
relicense?  I don't see any hook in the language that could be read to
imply restrictions on licensing terms.  The quoted language grants
permission to engage in every single one of the exclusive rights of a
copyright holder that might apply to a derivative work.  Sure, it
includes some restrictions in 3(a)(i) and (3)(a)(ii), but those
restrictions involve the transformativeness of the derivative, not what
conditions (or lack) the licensee puts on the derivative works.

James


------------------------------

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