[talk-au] NearMap

[John Smith]

On 16 September 2010 03:48, Richard Weait <richard at weait.com> wrote:
> Are you speaking for NearMap, "JohnSmith" or just agreeing with
> Richard Fairhurst above that "copyright on imagery does not, and
> should not, 'transfer' to tracings from that imagery"?

I'm speaking for myself, Terms and Conditions are a form of contract,
not copyright, just like the new OSM Contributor Terms are a form of a
contract, which then gives OSM the right to sub-license user works
under various copyrights.

> I don't speak for NearMap, of course, but the impression I had from
> the conversation with Ben, yesterday, is that NearMap argue that they
> have rights that _do_ persist in derived works such as traced vectors.

Yes, by way of their contract, just like OSM are trying to obtain
similar rights by way of their new contract with users.

> If you have had previous conversations with NearMap that denied this
> strong persistence argument, I believe that they have changed their
> position.

Most of my dealings with Nearmap are archived on various OSM mailing
lists, I've had very little contact with Nearmap privately about
anything.

> Legal argument aside.  Frankly it makes my head hurt.  If a vendor
> decides to stop allowing OSM use of their resources, we should say
> "Thanks for what you did contribute, and fare well."

In this case it is OSM that is changing the rules of the game, not
Nearmap, if it was the other way round I'd be much more inclined to
agree with you.