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

[Jonathan Rochkind]

Okay, phew, that does help a lot. Sorry I got confused between the 
'public domain' and 'some rights reserved' options. We need a web page 
laying this out (or maybe one already exists I forgot about).

So with "some rights reserved", you have one license for database, and 
one license for data, right?

But with public domain dedication, the same license can be used for a 
database or for data?

If you have a database that may include _some_ data that you do own (if 
anyone does; it may be non-ownable of course), and _some_ data that 
someone else owns (or could own if it's ownable) ... then as long as you 
can clearly tell which data is which, you could use the PDDL to dedicate 
just the _data_ you own from that db, right?  Like you could advertise 
that all data that has a field X in the db set to Y has been dedicated 
under the PDDL, but other data in the database has not been.

In that case... what about the 'database'. Could you use the PDDL to 
dedicate a _database_ that you created, which contains some records you 
know someone else owns?  What would that mean?   I don't really 
understand the difference between legal rights in a 'database' and in 
'data' (perhaps because the little law I know is US law, where there 
isn't much rights in either).

Jonathan

Jordan S Hatcher wrote:
> 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  Has it been superseded by the  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>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>         
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>       
>
> ____
> 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>
>
>