Development of Creative Commons licenses

[jonathon <jonathon.blake AT gmail.com>]

Jon wrote:

> 1. Is the wiki lincese just the same as a share-alike &  give attribution'  
> license? If they are not, how are they different.

The CC-Wiki licence is basically a relabelled CC-BY-SA licence.

> 2. Does 3.0 licence allow attribution to a group or organization, rather than 
> each contributor?

The general  consensus seems to be that the organization can be
attributed,rather than the specific contributors.  However, that does
not rule out the possibility that somebody will add content, and then
sue somebody because the material the sued party used attributed the
organization, rather than the individual.

My suggestion would be to add a clause to the user agreement that the
contributor acknowledges that all contributions will be acknowledges
as being attributed to the organization, when the material is further
disseminated. [Talk to an attorney for the precise wording to use.]

> 3. Does selling something (even at cost, or for overhead cost (not for 
> profit)) violate the 'no commercial' uses?

Yes, no, and maybe.

The licence does not define "non commercial".  The licence does not
define "commercial".

I've seen five or six different pages, by different organizations that
define/describe what the NC licence allows, and prohibits.  Needless
to say, these pages conflict with each other.

I am not a lawyer.

My theory is that if you have content attributed to your 501 (3) (c)
organization, and you also have the contributors assign all
intellectual property rights to your 501 (3) (c) organization, you can
sell the hard copy of the material.  To minimize disputes, make it
clear in the agreement that the contributor accepts, that the material
will be published by the 501 (3) (c) organization in various formats,
and that the distribution might incur a charge to the recipient, and a
net profit to the organization.  Every month add a page to your
organization's wiki,  listing the income, and expenses of the
organization. At the end of the fiscal year, add a copy of the forms
you file with the IRS to the wiki.

If you are in another country, replace "501 (3) (c)" with the
equivalent in your country ( "Registered charity"or "registered
non-profit limited by guarantee"are the most common) and replace "IRS"
with the taxation authority for your country.

xan

jonathon