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Creative Commons weighs in on proposed OpenStreetMap licenseCreative Commons weighs in on proposed OpenStreetMap licensePosted Mar 24, 2009 7:44 UTC (Tue) by PO8 (guest, #41661)In reply to: Creative Commons weighs in on proposed OpenStreetMap license by endecotp Parent article: Creative Commons weighs in on proposed OpenStreetMap license
IANAL, but my understanding is that it's not even legally clear that you can "release your work into the public domain". This is especially unclear outside the US. The phrase "public domain" is associated with a very specific legal concept—a copyrighted work can enter the public domain via its copyright expiring, by being made by the US government, which cannot hold copyright, and one or two other ways. But just saying "I put this copyrighted work in the public domain" may or may not actually do anything, according to the attorneys I have heard from. In any case, retaining copyright does give rights that probably everyone wants, in particular, the right of attribution. If the copyright on OSM maps was abandoned, any person or company could claim that they created them themselves. Copyright abandonment also has interesting effects on the liability issue. All in all, it's probably best to release this stuff under some extra-non-restrictive license, rather than attempting to abandon its copyright.
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Does the public domain exist? Posted Mar 24, 2009 9:28 UTC (Tue) by epa (subscriber, #39769) [Link] See DJB's analysis of whether it is possible to waive copyright and, so doing, release a work into the public domain. It's true that in some jurisdictions there are rights that cannot be waived, even if you want to, and that's why the Creative Commons CC0 licence exists.
Creative Commons weighs in on proposed OpenStreetMap license Posted Mar 24, 2009 12:50 UTC (Tue) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link]
Actually, the US Government *can* hold copyright (and the Berne Convention states that copyright covers *all* "suitable" works).
I think if you actually read the statute, the US Government is enjoined from enforcing its own copyrights (in other words, in plain English, the US Government holds the copyrights, but is not allowed to enforce those rights in US courts).
I know Debian-legal is a fount of legal knowledge (not), but it seems quite possible that the US government could enforce US government copyrights in a non-US court.
Cheers,
Creative Commons weighs in on proposed OpenStreetMap license Posted Mar 25, 2009 14:36 UTC (Wed) by zotz (guest, #26117) [Link]
"In any case, retaining copyright does give rights that probably everyone wants, in particular, the right of attribution."
I think it is more nuanced than this. Some may not care for the right of attribution while they may care for the right to block "wrongfully claimed attribution".
Is that clear? I will take a second shot.
I may not care to be attributed for my work. But I may not want someone else wrongfully claiming my work as their own. These are two different but related issues that we often treat like one issue.
all the best,
drew
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