[OSM-legal-talk] Database and its contents

Anthony osm at inbox.org
Fri Nov 26 14:44:38 GMT 2010


On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 4:08 AM, Matthias Julius <lists at julius-net.net> wrote:
> No, a license cannot protect any work or restrict what one can do with the
> work.  It can only give permissions.  Of course, these permissions might
> have some conditions (like BY-SA).  The protection comes from the law
> (copyright, database right, patent right, ...).  What is not restricted by
> the law is permitted.

Depends how the license is written.  If it's written as a unilateral
conditional waiver (GPL, CC-BY-SA, Artistic License 1.0), then indeed
it can only give permissions.  However, if it's written as a bilateral
contract (ODBL), then it might give permissions *and* impose
restrictions.  In the latter case, it's also very difficult to
enforce.  See Jacobsen v. Katzer for an explanation of these
principles, which, while not directly applicable outside the
jurisdiction of that particular court of appeals, gives a very sound
explanation of the legal principles which should extend far outside
its particular jurisdiction.



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