[OSM-legal-talk] [talk-au] Statement from nearmap.com regarding submission of derived works from PhotoMaps to OpenStreetMap

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 06/17/11 10:49, John Smith wrote:
>> Data from an ODbL database may however be used to create a BY-SA
>> Produced Work.
>
> So this means produced works can be traced into a cc-by-sa data set then?

Only if the amount of data traced is not substantial.

This echoes the "reverse engineering" discussion we have had on this 
list (google for it). Earlier versions of ODbL contained an explicit 
statement saying that if you use a produced work to re-create the 
database, that would then again come under ODbL. It was concluded that 
this is unnecessary because the database right subsists even if the data 
is contained in, say, a CC-BY-SA licensed produced work. This means that 
while you can do anything you want with the produced work, as soon as 
you take the data contained therein and make a database, you will need 
permission to use that database from the owner of the database rights; 
and such permission will only be granted if you use ODbL.

This concept is not easy to understand for everybody; we have heard 
people say "but how can anything in a CC-BY-SA (or PD) work be protected 
by something else that is external to the license"; but that doesn't 
alter the fact. The best way to explain this to laymen is, I believe, 
patents: I can give you a public domain photograph that describes the 
exact construction of something, any you may use that photograph in any 
way, but if you start using the information in the photograph to 
construct the thing yourself then you might violate a patent. The fact 
that I gave you a public domain photograph doesn't mean that there are 
absolutely no other rights in what is depicted on the photo.

Same with an ODbL produced work. You can make a CC-BY-SA produced work 
but if you use the information therein to (re)create the database then 
you collide with the database owner's database right even if that was 
not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the CC-BY-SA produced work.

Bye
Frederik