discuss: licence problems
Subject:
Re: [discuss] licence problems
From:
Rick Moen ####@####.####
Date:
24 Sep 2008 17:29:17 +0100
Message-Id: <20080924162915.GH32320@linuxmafia.com>
Quoting Jean-Daniel Dodin ####@####.####
> obsolete docs should be moved to a obsolete file, and licence free can
> be set on a write disabled wiki page with companion discussion page
> for the modifs. I think all the LDP documents allow derivative works,
> as stated in the (old) manifesto, we can probably state than the
> minimal requirements are met by all documents.
Unfortunately, no, _not_ all extant LDP documents allow derivative works.
The contents of the old LDP manifest is not relevant; LDP's manifest fails
(and has always failed) to solve the problem, as it is simply not a
permission grant by the licensor.
If the author hasn't said somewhere that the work may be used to create
derivative works, then there's no licence to that effect. It's a right
reserved by default to copyright owners.[1] The author (or subsequent
owner of copyright title) must grant that permission by some affirmative
act, or it remains with himself/herself.
LDP's staff _probably_ would not get sued for copyright violation if it
were to pretend that the (old) manifesto somehow created a blanket
automatic author's grant of derivative-work rights, but only because
the property values at stake aren't high enough. However, it _would_
get a public reputation for ignoring authors' rights. That would be
A Bad Thing, in my view.
[1] If that's surprising, then think of it this way: National copyright
laws and the Berne Convention cause copyright title to arise
automatically at the moment of a creative work's composition, and vests
in the creator. (The creator gains ownership.) If the author
subsequently gives out copies and (hypothetically) doesn't say anything
about the right to redistribute or to create and distribute derivative
works, then those rights are not conveyed, but instead automatically
rest with the copyright owner. Conveying those rights thus requires an
explicit _licence_, a permission grant beyond what is conveyed by
default, when someone is handed a copy.
