[OSM-talk] open data

[Lars Aronsson]

Etienne wrote:

> We (the OSMF) can't relicense the data under a different 
> license.  Nor can anyone else.  That is exactly the protection 
> that the SA clause provides.

Of course you are right, but only under certain assumptions that 
we tend to take for granted when in fact they might not be, namely 
that (1) the data is copyrightable, (2) anybody would care to 
fight against such an action, and (3) they would win the case.  
To be specific, I didn't talk about relicensing, but declaring the 
map data to be in the public domain.  In the PD, there can be no 
licensing because there is no copyright or other rights.

My question was: what would happen if OSMF tried this trick? 
Unlike murder and arson, the police doesn't fight copyright 
violations (or breeches of contracts) on their own initiative, 
because they don't have information about who owns what or what 
has been agreed upon. The offense must be reported to police by 
the copyright owner, or started as a civil law suit at the 
victim's own cost.

So the first step is that some copyright owner feels offended 
enough (and can afford) to start this process.  Maybe some would, 
but others just wouldn't (or couldn't) care.

The next step is that a court of law finds OSMF guilty of a crime, 
which is far from certain.  As I mentioned, it is doubtful if the 
data can be copyrighted at all.  The punishment is then in 
proportion to the damage, i.e. the copyright holder's economic 
loss.  And this is where the case becomes really ridiculous.

If we want to work in this direction, we don't need a list of 
contributors who are willing to let go.  We need a list of 
contributors who are ready and able to take action against it.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se