[OSM-legal-talk] Open Data Commons Database Licence
Richard Fairhurst
richard at systemeD.net
Thu Sep 27 10:46:48 BST 2007
Jordan S Hatcher wrote:
> There was some mention of attribution on the list, and I wanted to
> clarify that in general, this is not an 'attribution' licence in the
> sense that derivative databases must attribute to the original
> database. It does however require the notice mentioned in Section
> 4.3, which requires that output of data carry a notice as to source.
As I read it, 4.2.b (derivative databases) says you must "Keep intact
any copyright or Database Right notices for the Database"; and 4.3
(combined output) says "You must include a notice reasonably
calculated to make users of the integrated experience aware that
content was obtained from the Database and that the Database is
available under this Licence".
So under 4.2.b a user would have to say "(c) OpenStreetMap
(www.openstreetmap.org)", and under 4.3 "This map contains information
from OpenStreetMap (www.openstreetmap.org) made available here under
the ODCL". That's as much attribution as we get at the moment, so it
seems to work.
On a personal angle, 4.4.c ("if hyperlinks are not possible, You must
include the plain text of the required URIs with the above notice")
is a bit prescriptive for print uses. It would be better to add an
easement equivalent to 4.2.c ("If it is not possible... then You must
include the notice in a location... where a user would be likely to
look for it."). A big long URL is too large for most
newspaper/magazine credits, but all copyright notices are usually
gathered together in a single flannel panel for the publication which
neatly works as "a location where a user would be likely to look for
it".
Incidentally, I'm interested in the comment that "the policy of CC for
future versions of the licences in Europe, will be to waive any
Database Rights". So we're moving from "CC-BY-SA 2.0 probably not
valid for OSM" to "CC-BY-SA 4.0 definitely not valid for OSM". ;)
cheers
Richard
More information about the legal-talk
mailing list