[okfn-discuss] New project - Open Data licence

Tue Sep 4 09:09:47 UTC 2007

On 31 Aug 2007, at 10:57, Rufus Pollock wrote:

> Jordan Hatcher's lists wrote:
>> The licence itself doesn't do too much in terms of restrictions   
>> except for a Share Alike requirement.  It has been suggested to  
>> me  that SA would be particularly bad for the sciences and data   
>> integration projects.  I very much would like to hear your  
>> thoughts  on what you'd like to see with the licence.
>
> Personally I'm a waverer on this issue. Its not really clear to me  
> how the sharealike issues on data differ fundamentally from those  
> on code. The main concern seems to centre on the degree of reach- 
> through, that is just how broad is the definition of a derivative  
> work. It also seems to me that without sharealike the dangers of  
> data being locked away behind access-control provisions is even  
> greater than for code (this perhaps has some analogies to the  
> sofware as a service issue). Some previous thoughts on the topic:
>
> https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OpenData/Message/100.html
> http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/2007-April/000391.html
> http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/2007-April/000403.html
> http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/2007-June/000443.html
> http://www.systemed.net/blog/entry060311122655.html
>
> Phew! Putting this list together makes me think some of this should  
> be distilled into a blog post ...
>

Thanks for the links -- had a look through them and I *think that the  
draft addresses most of the issues highlighted.  In the end, I think  
that there may be a need for different open data licences for  
different communities. For example, the updated TCL won't (as of now  
anyway) have any 'Attribution' element, whereas that could be a major  
need in the scientific sector.

In terms of the basis for the licence, the Database Directive often  
gets criticized for being overreaching, but the terms for the sites  
collected in the Australian report:

Building the infrastructure for data access and reuse in  
collaborative research: An analysis of the legal context
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00008865/

Seem mostly to based on contract rather than copyright, and don't  
have the built in protections of the Database Directive for the  
extraction and re-utilisation of insubstantial amounts of data.

Will post the draft relatively soon.

~Jordan

____
Mr. Jordan S Hatcher, JD, LLM

jordan at opencontentlawyer dot com
IP/IT Blog: http://twitchgamer.net

Usage of Creative Commons by cultural heritage organisations
<http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/studies/cc2007>

"The Impact of Free Trade Agreements on Information Technology Based  
Business"
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=984864>