[OSM-legal-talk] Copyright Assignment

[Henk Hoff]

Anthony schreef:
>
> You grant everyone the right to do anything.  You're effectively 
> releasing your content into the public domain.
>
>     And since OSMF are using a broad non-exclusive licence on the
>     database,
>     and you are arguign that for an individual to do this "effectively"
>     gives up their rights altogether, surely OSMF are "effectively" giving
>     up *their* rights on the database altogether?
>
>
> No, the ODbL is much more restrictive than "a worldwide, royalty-free, 
> non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable license to do any act that is 
> restricted by copyright over anything within the Contents, whether in 
> the original medium or any other"
>  
The concept of the ODbL is that there is a distinction between data and 
database (the collection of data). Consider this as a box with stuff. 
The OSMF is the owner of the database (box) but not the contents. The 
OSMF is publishing the box with its contents under the ODbL. It can only 
do that if the owners of the stuff that's put into the box has given 
OSMF the right to distribute their stuff freely.

Since ODbL is an open and free license, the OSMF needs to be sure that 
the data that is put into the database is also free. To make the legally 
sure, the text you quote has been drafted by legal experts.

But you as contributor will still be the sole owner of the data you've 
contributed.

>     Which licence, and what are the advantages to suing in a personal
>     capacity rather than having OSMF do so?
>
>
> Any license.  And the advantage is that who you want to sue might be 
> different from who the OSMF wants to sue.
>
> For example, let's say you want to sue Cloudmade...
... or you want to sue GeoFabrik or ITO or AND (to name some other 
sponsors of OpenStreetMap) ...
If there is a need to sue, we (the Foundation) will sue. Otherwise it 
will work as a precedence towards other parties.



Cheers,
Henk Hoff