[odc-discuss] Basic Produced Work question

Mon Mar 2 12:50:42 UTC 2009

2009/3/2 Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org>:
> Hi odc-discuss,

Welcome!

>    first post, I'm one of the OpenStreetMap guys but
> OpenStreetMap-legal is quite busy at the moment and the question I have
> is a very basic one.
>
> I have always assumed that the idea behind the ODbL "Produced Work" was:
> If you take an ODbL-licensed database, add some data to it, and then
> make a "Produced Work" and publish that, then the share-alike clause
> applies to the derived database that you have created in the process
> (even if it was just a by-product that you did not originally want to
> publish).
>
> Is that a correct interpretation?

I don't think so.  (Warning: I'm not a drafter of the license or a
legal expert so I may be getting some of this wrong but ...).

Section 4.2 says: "If You publicly Convey this Database, any
Derivative Database, or the Database as part of a Collective Database,
..." then you have to do a bunch of stuff (including comply with s4.4
which is the SA part). (S4.3 then explicitly excepts 'Produced Works'
from the application of S4.2).

In your case the derived database (if created) used for making the
produced work is not being 'publicly conveyed' hence S4.2 does not
apply.

> If so, I am currently struggling to find the right "thread" through the
> license that describes the above.
>
> So I publish the "Produced Work". 4.4 "share alike" does not apply (4.5b
> expressly says that 4.4 does not apply for Produced Works).

Yes.

> 4.6 says that I have to make the derivative database available if I
> publicly "convey" it. The previous draft said "use" here; now the
> definition of "convey" explicitly excludes Produced Works.
>
> So - is the whole thing about having to share an "interim" derived
> database that you create on your way to a Produced Work just a pipe
> dream, a misunderstanding on my part? Or is ist still codified in the
> license, and if yes, where?

In my understanding, this is not so: the "interim" database if not
being publicly conveyed and will therefore not have to be shared.

Rufus