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  • From: Tobias Schonwetter <tobias AT creativecommons.org>
  • To: CC Africa mailing list <ccafrica AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ccAfrica] Fwd: [cc-affiliates] CC amicus brief in U.S. litigation involving NC
  • Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2016 08:13:25 +0200

Dear all:

thismay be of general interest for the copyright experts among us. 

Best,

Tobias 

---
Dr. Tobias Schonwetter
Regional Coordinator: Africa
Creative Commons

twitter: @tobyschonwetter








Begin forwarded message:

From: Diane Peters <diane AT creativecommons.org>
Subject: [cc-affiliates] CC amicus brief in U.S. litigation involving NC
Date: 31 August 2016 at 02:53:56 AM SAST

Dear CC Affiliates,

There is a case pending in federal court in New York that focuses on the proper interpretation of the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. A company called Great Minds is suing a copy shop (FedEx Office) for making photocopies of mathematics curricular materials for primary and secondary school at the request of public school districts for use in the classroom. These schools do not have the ability to make enough copies for themselves, and they rely on copy shops like FedEx Office to make enough copies for each student to have her own copy. Many schools in the United States have adopted this curriculum relying on their understanding that they could use it in their classrooms by having it copied for their students, and this lawsuit is causing major problems for them.

The copy shop has filed a motion asking the court to dismiss this lawsuit. This motion is now before the court for decision. Creative Commons is requesting permission to file an amicus brief in the case. In U.S. litigation, an amicus is a friend of the court who is not a party to the lawsuit but who offers arguments or information that is helpful to the court in the making of its decision. 

While we rarely file amicus briefs, we feel strongly that a correct interpretation of the legal code here is essential to the utility of the NC licenses for both licensors and licensees, including the more than 370 million works already licensed under an NC license. The outcome of this case could have significant negative implications if the court interprets the license as the plaintiff advocates. It's important in our view to ensure the proper interpretation of the license for CC and all those who use the NC licenses and NC-licensed works in good faith. 

We are sharing the letter we filed here (attached), where you can find a more detailed summary of the legal argument we will make if the motion is granted. Please keep in mind that this is only a request to file a full brief, not the brief itself. If the motion is granted we will prepare a full brief and will keep you informed throughout the drafting process.

Creative Commons and CC U.S. will be working closely together as this progresses. Please feel free to let Mike and me know if you have any questions.

Diane Peters, CC General Counsel (diane AT creativecommons.org)
Mike Carroll, CC U.S. lead (mcarroll AT wcl.american.edu)

Attachment: CC EDNY Letter.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document

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