[OSM-legal-talk] Re-using ODbL for other, similiar project?

[Ed Avis]

Willy <willyzzzz at ...> writes:

>Question 1: May I copy and re-use the ODbL text for my project? Is the 
>license itself free?

Yes, I believe so, although I do not see an explicit statement on
http://www.opendatacommons.org/ or in the licence text.
 
>Actually I inherited the database after the creator passed away some 
>time ago. Back then he told me that all data in that database is either 
>from free sources or had been collected by contributors. However, he 
>neither had/demanded something like ODbL's Terms of Contribution nor 
>archived the cotribution postings. So I have no objective evidence for 
>the data source.

I don't believe the ODbL has any 'terms of contribution'.  Those are a separate
idea thought up by the OSM project.  But yes, in general it would be a good idea
to check that you have permission to release your project under this licence.
 
>Question 2: Under those circumstances, would you recommend not to add 
>the data to OSM?

That's not really a legal question but an organizational one.  Note, however,
that just releasing your project under ODbL might not be enough to allow its
incorporation into the OSM project, which has its own set of contributor terms.
You might also consider releasing as public domain.

-- 
Ed Avis <eda at waniasset.com>