[OSM-legal-talk] CouchDB: Software Licenses under ODbL

[Jonathan Harley]

On 25/07/12 14:33, ScubbX wrote:
> Hello!
>
> While writing my master-thesis, I stumbled upon an interesting problem:
> When I save a set of OSM data to a CouchDB, a database is created. 
> Now, I add a couchapp ( http://couchapp.org/page/index) to this database.
> Since the used files are stored in the same database as 
> database-content, I would have to check whether the Apache 2.0 license 
> (couchapp), the FreeBDS license (OpenLayers) and the MIT-license 
> (jQuery) are compatible with the ODbL.
> A bizarre situation.
>
> Am I right?

Hi Markus - no. For legal purposes, a "database" is just a collection of 
data. What you mean by "stored in the same database" means stored in a 
given storage instance of some database software. In IT we call that a 
"database" but it's not the same meaning as the legal usage, and 
shouldn't be confused.

In other words - storing some data in the same instance of a database as 
some OSM data doesn't automatically extend your ODbL responsibilities to 
that data. If there are no interdependencies, there's no problem.

Jonathan.

-- 
Dr Jonathan Harley   :    Managing Director    :   SpiffyMap Ltd

md at spiffymap.com      Phone: 0845 313 8457     www.spiffymap.com
The Venture Centre, Sir William Lyons Road, Coventry CV4 7EZ, UK