[OSM-legal-talk] Questions on the Contributors Term

[David Groom]

> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Michael Collinson" <mike at ayeltd.biz>
> To: "Licensing and other legal discussions." 
> <legal-talk at openstreetmap.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 8:01 AM
> Subject: Re: [OSM-legal-talk] Questions on the Contributors Term
>

> Hi Nakor,
>
> Here is a quick initial answer.  I'll do a bit
> more research and add to a FAQ and respond
> further, they sound like questions other folks will want to ask.
>
> At 22:57 10/08/2010, Nakor wrote:
>>     Hello,
>>
>>1) What is the exact definition of "copyrightable elements"? Does it mean 
>>that the elements has a copyright or does it mean that the element could 
>>have a copyright? The reason I am asking is because the French version of 
>>paragraph 1. of the contributor terms seems more lazy to me than the 
>>English one.
>
> I am just learning about the significance of this
> term myself, so will come back with a careful answer.
>
>
>>2) Where does PD data (mainly TIGER, NHS, NPS, NAIP imagery, USGS imagery) 
>>fall with regards to contributor terms, specifically "You have 
>>**explicit** permission from the rights holder to submit the Contents and 
>>grant the licence below"?'
>
> The general answer is that PD licenses, and
> specifically the terms under which US government
> releases data, allow any use. That gives you
> explicit permission to submit the data.

Not in my opinion it doesn't.  In my opinion it gives you **permission**, or 
it gives you **implicit** permission, but it does not give you **explicit** 
permission

I raised this point on this list on 20 July 2010 and got no answer, so last 
week I emailed the Licence Working Group to raise this point with them.

David

>
> I think it would be good though if we developed a
> page which lists "OK" sources and a reference to
> their license.  Help is welcome. Tracing back the
> license on US government pages can be time
> consuming and difficult for us non-lawyers to
> understand.  TIGER,  for instance,
>
> http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/faq.html#38
>
> points to:
>
> http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#105
>
> which says:
>
> "§ 105. Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works37
>
> Copyright protection under this title is not
> available for any work of the United States
> Government, but the United States Government is
> not precluded from receiving and holding
> copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise."
>
>
>
>>3) same as 2) for tracing from Toporama WMS 
>>(http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Toporama_WMS)
>
> Please would one of our Canadian bretheren add an
> answer to this directly on the wiki page?  Richard?!
>
>
>>4) same as 2) for tracing from Yahoo imagery
>
> The OpenStreetMap project received explicit
> verbal consent to trace Yahoo imagery provided
> that the actual image tiles are not downloaded
> permanently on to any computer.  Therefore you
> have explicit permission to submit the data.
>
>
>>Sorry if 2, 3, 4 have already been answered. In that case please direct me 
>>to a place where that would be clearly explained.
>>
>>   Thanks in advance,
>>
>>N.
>