[OSM-legal-talk] Fwd: Re: [OSM-talk] OSM layer into Adobe Illustrator?

[Richard Fairhurst]

Nick Black wrote:

> On 2/27/07, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
>> I know, we don't explicitly forbid commercial use - but if the "SA"
>> aspect is interpreted as "anything you build on top of OSM data has to
>> be made available to your competitors without the chance of recapturing
>> some of the funds invested", then we actively undermine possible
>> commercial use.
>
> No way.  This is one area where there are surely direct comprisons to
> the GPL.  How many companies make a load of money from improving and
> resselling GPLd software, whilst still contribnuting back to the
> community that created it?

That would only be a direct comparison to the GPL if we used the GPL. :)

No webmapping company or cartographer will contribute any data back to  
OSM except through the goodness of their own heart. That's because  
CC-SA doesn't require you to publish the source code, just the final  
product.

If I produce a 1:1,000,000 map of Britain using both my own and OSM's  
data, I have to let people photocopy the map under CC-SA. What I don't  
have to do, though, is publish my data so that it can be  
reincorporated into OSM. GPL would do that and so would a putative  
share-data licence.

A share-data licence might encourage the GPL-like scenario you  
describe. CC ShareAlike does almost _nothing_ for OSM's stated aims  
(as per the wiki), though, it only helps the wider cause of "free  
culture".

cheers
Richard