[odc-discuss] Database Contents Licence (formerly the FIL)

Thu Apr 30 17:33:09 UTC 2009

On 30 Apr 2009, at 17:50, Jonathan Rochkind wrote:

> And wait, I just realized I had acronym confusion too.
>
> How does the PDDL fit into this all?  Has it been superseded by the  
> ODbL or the DbCL?  Or is it an alternate to one, or to both?

The PDDL is Public Domain -- no rights over the data/database.  You  
give them up.  A bit like the Python sketch with the parrot.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Parrot>

The ODbL is copyleft for databases.  Legal code to put some  
restrictions around a database and saying that if you use this and  
make changes, you have to release your changes under the ODbL too.  
It's in development but about to be released.  It has a companion for  
the content of the database (now) called the DbCL.

>
> So confused. Some people are already (trying) to use the PDDL to  
> license actual database/data.  I think it's likely they are using it  
> incorrectly.  This is very confusing.

They should be using the PDDL for actual databases/data, if they want  
to dedicate those to the public domain! It's been out for over a  
year.  Like any licence (or if you prefer calling it a "legal tool  
dedicating work to the public domain"), you can only license/dedicate  
what you own.

Let me know if this helps.

~Jordan

>
> Jonathan
>
> Jonathan Rochkind wrote:
>> That helps, thanks Jordan.
>>
>> Can you ODbL the database, even if some of the data in the database  
>> may have third-parties with rights to it in various jurisdictions?
>>
>> I think "early adopters" of this suite of stuff for library  
>> bibliographic data may currently not be using them correctly.  
>> Guidance is desperately needed.
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>> Jordan S Hatcher wrote:
>>
>>> On 30 Apr 2009, at 16:19, Anders Söderbäck wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Anyway, when licensing library data, I guess you could use both  
>>>> the  ODbL and the DbCL together, just to be safe.
>>>>
>>> I'll try to address your other points when I can, but this one I   
>>> wanted to clarify immediately.
>>>
>>> The DbCL is meant to be used only with the ODbL.
>>>
>>> The ODbL will cover the Database.  The DbCL will cover the  
>>> contents of  that database.
>>>
>>> It's the difference between a text field name (licensed under the  
>>> ODbL  as part of the database) and the text in the field (licensed  
>>> under the  DbCL).
>>>
>>> ~Jordan
>>>
>>> ____
>>> Mr. Jordan S Hatcher, JD, LLM
>>>
>>> jordan [at] opencontentlawyer dot com
>>>
>>> More details at:
>>> <http://www.jordanhatcher.com>
>>>
>>> Open Data at:
>>> <http://www.opendatacommons.org>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> odc-discuss mailing list
>>> odc-discuss at lists.okfn.org
>>> http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/odc-discuss
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> odc-discuss mailing list
>> odc-discuss at lists.okfn.org
>> http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/odc-discuss
>>

____
Mr. Jordan S Hatcher, JD, LLM

jordan [at] opencontentlawyer dot com

More details at:
<http://www.jordanhatcher.com>

Open Data at:
<http://www.opendatacommons.org>