[open-government] Open Government Licence launched today

Mon Oct 4 14:13:50 UTC 2010

Tim

Thanks for your question.  You’re right that we have tried to avoid hardwiring ‘the Crown’ too deeply within the licence.  This is in large part because Crown copyright applies to material created by central government, while it was our mandate to find a licensing solution able to accommodate the whole range of public sector organisations: whether executive agencies, local authorities, limited companies etc.  So it’s probably a good sign for us that you didn’t find it too Crown centric.

Best regards

Matthew Pearce
Standards Adviser

The National Archives
5th Floor, Ministry of Justice
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T: 02033345261

From: Tim McNamara [mailto:paperless at timmcnamara.co.nz]
Sent: 02 October 2010 01:04
To: Pearce, Matthew
Cc: open-government at lists.okfn.org
Subject: Re: [open-government] Open Government Licence launched today

[removed top post]

From: open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org> [mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org>] On Behalf Of Tim McNamara
My only concern is with licence proliferation. My understanding is that New Zealand's Cabinet adopted the CC-BY (New Zealand) licence as its default licence for its Crown copyright material this year [1]. May I ask, why the UK government has needed to craft a new licence? Those reasons will be quite beneficial for me as I learn more about this area.

Kind regards,

Tim McNamara

[1] http://www.e.govt.nz/policy/nzgoal

On 1 October 2010 02:59, Pearce, Matthew <Matthew.Pearce at nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk<mailto:Matthew.Pearce at nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk>> wrote:
Tim

Thanks for your reply.  One of the primary drivers for the creation of the OGL was the need to account for database rights, which are particular to the EU.  This was necessary to ensure both licensee and licensor had reassurance over the IP rights covered by the licence (and given that one of the big packages of information covered is data.gov.uk<http://data.gov.uk/>).  We looked into approaches using a combination of different licences to cover this need, but the conclusion was that it would be more simple and enabling to have a single set of terms and conditions.  We have also taken measures to mitigate the risks from introducing a new licence: making the OGL compatible with the CC-BY and ODC-BY  licences; and using the Creative Commons Rights Expression Language in developing a machine readable version of the OGL.  I hope that helps.

Regards

Matthew Pearce
Standards Adviser

The National Archives

Thank you for your reply Matthew.

May I ask further why the licence aimed specifically at public sector data? If there are deficiencies in the Creative Commons licences' treatment of database rights, or deficiencies other established licences, then they must apply to all agencies seeking to publish open data in the UK.

There do not appear to be any specific clauses within the licence that refer specifically for the Crown. While the definition of licensor provides specifically for Crown copyright and Crown database rights, they do not appear to be materially significant. From my external viewpoint, the marginal cost for HM Stationary Office would have been minimal to craft a licence that is also applicable for all agencies that wish to publish data, such as community and private sector organisations.

While you stress that compatibility with established licences is in place, every individual that seeks reuse of the UK governments' data will still need to read and comprehend another licence. To me, when I hear that the licences are compatible, I then think "Well then, what's different?" and further "If the original licences are insuficient to provide certainty, then shouldn't they be fixed?".

Regards, Tim McNamara

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