[OSM-legal-talk] Q&A with a lawyer

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

Matt Amos wrote:
> one of the things i'm gaining a better understanding of, having spoken
> with Clark, is that no license is ever fully watertight and we are
> highly unlikely to be able to defend all of our rights in all possible
> jurisdictions. 

I think we can all live with not being able to defend the rights in all 
jurisdictions.

What I'm concerned with is mainly: How big is the risk of someone 
"whitewashing" our data from the contractual part of the ODbL, then 
introducing it to a large jurisdiction without something like a database 
directive (the US?), and thereby leaving us with only plain copyright 
which (correct me if I'm wrong) we choose not to exercise by applying 
the DbCL?

As a commercial user, I am very interested in having the same set of 
rules binding my competitors in every country. Countries with economies 
so negligible that they don't subscribe to international IP law are of 
little interest to me in that regard (I am unlikely to face competition 
from companies in North Korea et al.), but if some kind of "loophole" 
would permit rogue US companies to use OSM data free of any restrictions 
while I, in Europe, am bound by them would be unsatisfactory.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"