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cc-licenses - Re: [cc-licenses] input requested: BY-SA/GPL compatibility - license scope

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Subject: Development of Creative Commons licenses

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  • From: Rob Myers <rob AT robmyers.org>
  • To: Development of Creative Commons licenses <cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [cc-licenses] input requested: BY-SA/GPL compatibility - license scope
  • Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:00:10 -0800

On 2015-02-24 11:02, Arne Babenhauserheide wrote:
Hi,

Am Montag, 23. Februar 2015, 16:38:04 schrieb Andrew Rens:
> I think the easiest step would be to explicitly forbid using a CC
> by-sa file under GPL, if that would require patent rights which the
> reuser cannot grant. You can only use a CC by-sa work under GPL if you
> are able to comply with the GPL.

But how would this be implemented?

By just writing it: If you hold a patent which would prevent others
from utilizing their rights under the GPL, you are not allowed to
distribute CC by-sa content under GPL.

If I receive a patent-encumbered BY-SA licensed work from a third party and then incorporate it into a GPL-licensed work, the problem remains. Presumably patents would have to be declared in the license block for any work covered by them to allow this to be avoided. This would require a modification to BY-SA, which is out of scope for this discussion, I believe.

However Josh's comments about the FSF's position regarding existing GPL compatible licenses that lack patent clauses seems to indicate that BY-SA's lack of one would not be a problem any more than (e.g.) the MIT license is.

- Rob.





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