[OSM-legal-talk] Database and its contents

[Matthias Julius]

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:56:54 +0000, Rob Myers <rob at robmyers.org> wrote:
> On 11/25/2010 01:33 PM, ce-test, qualified testing bv - Gert Gremmen
wrote:
>>
>> That is turning reality upside down.
>  >
>> The only reason
>> for any license is to restrict any user of data/map/dbase or
>> whatever the license is for.
> 
> The licence only restricts those people who would restrict others. 
> Specifically it restricts them from imposing further restrictions. Which

> means that, in total, there are fewer restrictions.

A license is a grant of permissions, possibly depending on some
conditions.  Some licenses are more permissive than others, but in general
a license can not take privileges away.  For the prime example of
copyright
the law restricts what one can do with published works.  The copyright
holder may give you a license to do something with the work that is
normally prohibited by the law.  But they can not prevent anyone to do
something with the work that is permitted by copyright law.

Matthias