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["Damian Tambini" <damian.tambini AT socio-legal-studies.oxford.ac.uk>]

Comments on License Below

Damian

-----Original Message-----
From: Toby Bainton [mailto:Toby.Bainton AT sconul.ac.uk]
Sent: 30 March 2004 12:43
To: damian.tambini AT csls.ox.ac.uk
Subject: CC licence (Adv Panel on Crown Copyr)


Hello Damian

Thank you for your most interesting talk at the Advisory Panel on Crown
Copyright seminar (Oxford Internet Institute, 18 March).

You asked for comments on the Attribution-nonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 (UK)
licence.  I have a few rather small comments, mostly aimed at reducing
Americanisms.  I think it would be as well to minimise them not because
they're inherently objectionable but to make the licence more user-friendly
in the UK.  I'm not a lawyer.

1f  *Violation* is a very US-sounding and indeed alarming term.  Use
instead *contravened/contravention* or *transgressed/transgression*?

3   First sentence.  Since the Restrictions are so important it might be as
well to amend the first few words of *3. Licence Grant* to *Subject to the
terms restrictions and conditions of this Licence....*

The word *Licensor* appears without the definite article in some places (a
distinctly US practice which sounds odd in the UK).  It looks as if someone
has tried to put the definite article in where required but it is still
missing in the following places:

3         first sentence and last sentence
5a      first sentence (twice)
5a i   first word
6     (right in the middle)
7b     second sentence
8b
8e    penultimate sentence

Someone commented at the Seminar that the language of the licence is rather
legalistic.   But since it aims to be clear about what you can and can't
do, I don't see much that can be done.  Except perhaps by replacing 'the
Licensor' by I/We throughout.  That's inelegant too.

Excellent scheme.

With every good wish


Toby


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Toby Bainton
SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries)
102 Euston Street        London NW1 2HA          England
Tel:020 7387 0317 (+44-20-7387-0317)   Fax:020 7383 3197
(+44-20-7383-3197)
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