Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Sarah Pearson <sarah AT creativecommons.org>]

As you have seen, we are gradually sending out a series of emails designed to provoke discussion about several topics relating to draft 3. Kat Walsh sent out the first and second of those emails earlier this week. Those emails explained specific changes to the attribution and marking requirements. In the next week, we will be sending further emails dedicated to issues surrounding license compatibility and interpretation. 




This email is designed to highlight important changes to the termination provision in 4.0. 

In
 all prior versions of CC licenses, termination was automatic when a 
licensee breached the terms and conditions, and the only way for a 
licensee to get permission to use the licensed material again was to 
contact the licensor directly. Because licensors can be difficult, if 
not impossible, to find and contact (e.g., when there are multiple licensors), the practical result was often that
 a licensee was no longer authorized to use the material (and was thus 
potentially liable for copyright infringement) if she failed to comply 
with the license in any way, even if the violation was minor and/or 
unintentional, and even once she fixed the problem. 



During the 4.0 process, we heard from many of you in the community 
that this was problematic. Many users of CC-licensed works expressed 
concern that any unintentional misstep could permanently end their 
rights under the license. Others noted that the harsh treatment did not 
reflect the generally amicable nature of situations where a licensee 
fails to attribute correctly or otherwise inadvertently fails to comply 
with the license and then corrects the problem as soon as he is 
notified. Still others noted this was a potential incompatibility with 
other public licenses such as the GPL v3. 



To address these and other concerns, we have included a mechanism
 in this draft for licensees to get their rights under the license 
reinstated automatically, but only under limited circumstances. 
Specifically, licensees have 30 days after discovering a problem to 
correct it and regain permission to use the licensed material. The 
30-day window is designed to give licensees a reasonable amount of time 
to fix the problem. The window begins running after discovery of 
the problem because it is designed to help innocent rather than willful 
violators. Note that the provision expressly does not affect the right 
of licensors to seek remedies for past violations. Instead, it merely creates a limited means for licensees to automatically get permission to use the material once they are in compliance with the license. 



We hope this strikes the right balance of simplicity and flexibility
 without unduly loosening the restrictions. We are anxious to hear 
reactions from all of you. 

best,
Sarah

Sarah Hinchliff Pearson, Senior Counsel
Creative Commons
444 Castro Street, Suite 900
Mountain View, California 94041
skype: sarah-h-pearson
email: sarah AT creativecommons.org
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