On 15 September 2010 15:30, Mr. Puneet Kishor <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Sep 15, 2010, at 4:02 PM, Keith Alexander wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I want to update the documentation for voiD[1] (an RDF vocabulary for >> describing datasets) to include discussion of waivers and the Waiver >> Vocabulary[2]. >> Currently, the voiD guide recommends using dcterms:license[3] to point >> to the license of a dataset. The waiver vocabulary introduces >> wv:waiver to point toa document waiving rights over a dataset. >> . >> Two things worry me: >> >> * It's not always obvious whether to use dcterms:license or wv:waiver. >> eg: PDDL is a license, and declares a waiving of rights? >> * to work out the terms of use of a dataset, you have to look at the >> values(s) of both dcterms:license and wv:waiver. >> >> Would it be wrong to use dcterms:license to point to a waiver? >> Could wv:waiver be regarded as a more special kind of dcterms:license >> or is it a different thing? > > > IANAL, but from what I understand, a license is not a contract, and a license > is not a waiver [1-4]. > > Creative Commons specifically terms CC0 as a waiver of license, while its > traditional CC licenses are, well, licenses.
The problem is that for putting stuff in the public domain in some places you need the license part in addition to/instead of the pure dedication/waiver. that's why the PDDL (http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/) is the Public Domain Dedication and Waiver! > It is common but inaccurate assumption to think of licenses the same as > contracts. > > Copyright is a license, and is governed by federal laws in the US. A contract > requires at least two parties to agree to certain terms and conditions, and > is governed by state laws in the US. > > According to my law dictionary, a license is a unilateral permission granted > by a property owner to do certain things with the licensed property. > > A waiver is the absence of a license. But then you read things like: "A software license (or software licence in commonwealth usage) is a legal instrument (by way of contract law) governing the usage or redistribution of software." [1] -- not that i'm claiming wikipedia is an authority (or not) on such things. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_license See also this statement by then CC counsel Mia Garlick: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/cc-licenses/2006-April/003504.html> <quote> just to answer the question as to what CC thinks - whether it's licenses are only a license, not a contract; in my view, the CC licenses are contracts. </quote> Regards, Rufus > I wish this confusion were resolved, and the popular usage and the bookish > definitions would come into conformance. > > > [1] http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/my_pubs/lu-12.html > [2] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031214210634851 > [3] http://lwn.net/Articles/61292/ > [4] http://punkish.org/Licensing-Geographic-Data > > >> >> Thanks >> >> Keith >> >> [1] http://rdfs.org/ns/void/guide >> [2] http://vocab.org/waiver/terms/ >> [3] http://purl.org/dc/terms/license >> >> _______________________________________________ >> okfn-discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss > > -- > Puneet Kishor http://punkish.org > Carbon Model http://carbonmodel.org > Charter Member, Open Source Geospatial Foundation http://www.osgeo.org > Science Commons Fellow, http://sciencecommons.org/about/whoweare/kishor > Nelson Institute, UW-Madison http://www.nelson.wisc.edu > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Assertions are politics; backing up assertions with evidence is science > ======================================================================= > > > _______________________________________________ > okfn-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss > -- Open Knowledge Foundation Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age http://www.okfn.org/ - http://blog.okfn.org/ _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
