On 10 July 2011 17:37, Peter B. Hirtle <[email protected]> wrote: > Rufus and Richard: > > Thanks for bearing with me. We could quibble about what constitutes > "substantial use" of a database - I don't think that extracting a few > variables that are only tangentially related to the main point of the > database would qualify - but the point may not be worth belaboring. The > conclusion that I have taken from your messages is that an ODC-BY license > does not apply to the contents of a database except for when it does. I can > live with that.
OK. I think your are right that just 'extracting a few variables that are only tangentially related to the main database" would quality and trigger the license but I think that for that case you have to wonder what would work. I'd also emphasize that for the situation you are describing the license is really a form of social contract rather than formal legal document (in the sense that violators are very unlikely to be sued -- rather enforcement will come from the general community (that said the fact something is a legal document may give it extra kudos compared to informal, non-legal, "community norms"). > I do hope that some of the confusing things I found on the opendatacommons > web site can be fixed. I believe these had been fixed. If not please let me know (either on or off list). Rufus > Peter > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Rufus Pollock > Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 12:46 PM > To: Peter B. Hirtle > Cc: Richard Weait; [email protected] > Subject: Re: [odc-discuss] Questions about ODC licenses and web site > > On 7 July 2011 21:42, Peter B. Hirtle <[email protected]> wrote: >> Rufus, the content found in the database is on a particular lake, and >> consist of biological and chemical parameters (counts of zooplankton, >> phytoplankton, fish, other organisms, chemical analyses of water, etc.). It >> takes effort to collect this content, and the faculty member who generates >> it wants attribution. >> >> We know that the there is no copyright in the content: it is all factual. >> And we know that the ODC-BY license won't work, since it is explicit that >> its terms do not apply to the contents of the database, but only to the >> database itself. We are assuming that most users will not want to replicate >> the entire database, but will instead want to extract content from the >> database. For example, a 3rd party user might only be interested in the >> chemical analyses of the water and have no interest in the biological >> content in the database. The only ODC content license that I can find (even >> though it is not listed as a license) is the Database Content License, and >> it does not allow for Attribution as a condition. > > OK, I think there is a bit of confusion here over 'database'. You don't have > to exactly the whole database for the ODC licenses to apply to you -- after > in all with most databases people only use some portion of that database. The > licenses specifically talk of: > > "Extraction and Re-utilisation of the whole or a Substantial part of the > Contents;" (ODbL 3.1(a)) > > Thus the ODC licenses will cover situations where people are only using some > portion of a database. Just using the chemical analyses would likely be an > example of using a "Substantial" part of the "Contents" > >> If we are going to stipulate that a database is different than its content >> (which I think makes sense), don't you then need to have a full panoply of >> data content licenses that are based on contract rather than copyright? Or >> is it ODC's position that all data must be completely, utterly, and only >> public domain? If that is the case, we will have to write our own agreement >> compatible with the researcher's desires to address how third parties can >> use the content he has created. > > See my comments above, but in essence: using a subset of a database still > counts as using/reusing that database under the ODC licenses (of course this > will depend on how much is taken but this is true with all of this: in > copyright the amount that is reused from another work will determine whether > one is infringing or not ...) > > Rufus > -- Co-Founder, Open Knowledge Foundation Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age http://www.okfn.org/ - http://blog.okfn.org/ _______________________________________________ odc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/odc-discuss
