Re: Licensing advice

My two cents: Isn't Linked Data supererogatory in any Jurisdiction ?
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/supererogation/
--Gannon  



________________________________
 From: John Erickson <olyerickson@gmail.com>
To: Víctor Rodríguez Doncel <vrodriguez@fi.upm.es> 
Cc: Linked Data community <public-lod@w3.org> 
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 8:03 AM
Subject: Re: Licensing advice
 

My two cents: In many legal regimes it has been successfully argued
that "code is speech." The imperative vs declarative distinction is
likely to fail; if the code conveys "information" intended to control
the operation of another system, it can be argued that it is a form of
speech (and not merely "data," for which different IP rules may
apply). Consider the DeCSS trials (and tribulations) of the last
decade <http://digital-law-online.info/lpdi1.0/treatise50.html>

People interested in this topic might enjoy Gabriella Coleman's "Code
is Speech" (2009) <http://bit.ly/CodeIsSpeech> and "Coding Freedom"
(2013) <http://bit.ly/CodingFreedom>

On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 8:30 AM, Víctor Rodríguez Doncel
<vrodriguez@fi.upm.es> wrote:
>
> Oh! I didn't know... but if you can insert a "SQL" expression then R2RML is
> certainly imperative.
> Now I am very curious about the "Prolog" question, too, and I would like to
> hear more opinions.
>
> To foster the discussion, I have posted about "RDF Mappings and Licenses"
> here: http://licensius.com/blog/MappingsAndLicenses
>
> Víctor
>
> El 25/07/2013 13:13, Barry Norton escribió:
>
>
> Interesting distinction, but I'm not sure I buy it.
>
> Does that mean software licenses don't apply to PROLOG code?
>
> I can actually make R2RML mappings more imperative than PROLOG cuts by using
> control flow features of SQL.
>
> Barry
>
>
> On 25/07/13 12:04, Víctor Rodríguez Doncel wrote:
>
> Dear Roberto, all
>
> Well, I have not heard about any case in a trial court about this and the
> legal texts seem somewhat ambiguous. Also, I have not heard other qualified
> opinions on this particular regard. So, this can be matter for a friendly
> discussion.
>
> But I still lean towards not considering a mapping (for example the R2RML
> below) as a computer program.
> The mapping is declarative, not imperative. They are not instructions, as
> required in the legal text.
>
> Think of HTML pages. I dont think they are regarded as software. People
> don't license them with a BSD license. They use CreativeCommons licenses,
> intended for general works. You declare a table, a computer program will
> process it. (Yet, a Javascript piece would be made up of instructions).
>
> I hope I clarified my point.
> Víctor
>
>
>
> @prefix rr: <http://www.w3.org/ns/r2rml#>.
> @prefix ex: <http://example.com/ns#>.
>
> <#TriplesMap1>
>     rr:logicalTable [ rr:tableName "EMP" ];
>     rr:subjectMap [
>         rr:template "http://data.example.com/employee/{EMPNO}";
>         rr:class ex:Employee;
>     ];
>     rr:predicateObjectMap [
>         rr:predicate ex:name;
>         rr:objectMap [ rr:column "ENAME" ];
>     ].
>
>
>
> El 25/07/2013 10:32, Roberto García escribió:
>
> Dear Víctor, Tom, all,
>
> Maybe I've missed something but if what is going to be licensed are R2RML
> mappings, for me this is code.
>
> As Víctor quoted, a computer program is (WIPO): "a set of instructions,
> which controls the operations of a computer in order to enable it to perform
> a specific task".
>
> This is just what happens with R2RML mappings, they are based on a
> metalanguage that is read by a computer using a R2RML interpreter
> (implemented using another programming language but just similar to a
> compiler) that at last executes a set of instructions that read data from a
> source and generate a data stream in the output...
>
> My 2c,
>
>
> Roberto
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 11:01 AM, Víctor Rodríguez Doncel
> <vrodriguez@fi.upm.es> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Well, ODC data licenses include both copyrights and database rights.
>> So you dont give up your claims for having made a creative work...
>>
>> Víctor
>>
>> El 24/07/2013 10:38, Tom Heath escribió:
>>
>> Just seen this thread, apols for the slow response Barry...
>>
>> Of course IANAL and all that, but I disagree with Victor's conclusion.
>>
>> I would argue that the individual mappings are creative works (as you
>> say), and therefore a CC license would apply (better still, why not
>> apply a public domain waiver so they're totally open?).
>>
>> The collection as a whole would probably qualify as a database, at
>> which point Victor's points about a DB license would be relevant.
>>
>> As others have mentioned, the data created by the execution of these
>> mappings is another issue altogether, which you seem to have covered.
>>
>> My 2p worth -- hope it helps :)
>>
>> Tom.
>>
>>
>> On 12 July 2013 21:38, Víctor Rodríguez Doncel <vrodriguez@fi.upm.es>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Barry,
>>
>> My opinion is the following:
>>
>> 1. Code license NO. A computer program is (WIPO): "a set of instructions,
>> which controls the operations of a computer in order to enable it to
>> perform
>> a specific task"
>> 2. Intellectual Property. I'd say no in this case. Some databases are
>> protected by IP law. They are if they can assumed to be "collections of
>> literary or artistic works such as encyclopaedias and anthologies which,
>> by
>> reason of the selection and arrangement of their contents, constitute
>> intellectual creations, are to be protected as such, without prejudice to
>> the copyright in each of the works forming part of such collections".
>> So, if you have made your mapping automatically, they are NOT under the
>> umbrella of IP laws.
>> 3. Database law. YES (where it applies). Relaxing the requirements, a sui
>> generis rights is defined in Europe to protect your database if you have
>> made an investment (in time or money) when making the database. Rights
>> (extraction and reutilization) are kept for 15 years and are not
>> recognized
>> in USA and many other countries.
>>
>> --> Conclusion. Instead of using CreativeCommon licenses (excepting CC0
>> which is ok), use Data Licenses (for example ODC), which include in their
>> text a reference to the European database law.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Víctor
>>
>> El 12/07/2013 21:30, Barry Norton escribió:
>>
>>
>> Incidentally, to clarify, I meant to ask a more fundamental question about
>> mappings: are these creative works, deserving themselves of a CC license,
>> or
>> executable code, deserving of a code license?
>>
>> Whichever way, I'd like to make them as encumbered as possible.
>>
>> Barry
>>
>>
>> On 12/07/13 13:20, Barry Norton wrote:
>>
>>
>> I'd like to publicly release R2RML mappings for the MusicBrainz dataset.
>> DBpedia has shown interest in including the subset that can be used to
>> create a linkset.
>>
>> Any idea what (kind of) licence could/should apply? (To be clear, to the
>> mappings, as opposed to the dataset)
>>
>> I'd also like to attach, since R2RML is RDF, a licence and attribution on
>> a
>> per rr:TriplesMap basis. (The mappings are hosted on github and
>> contributions will be accepted as I'm never going to get through all of
>> the
>> MB Advanced Relationships, a moving target, myself and I'm being a
>> bottleneck.)
>>
>> The question's also been raised on whether a given licence can in turn
>> impose conditions on the triples that are created using it (as derivative
>> works)? Does that sound feasible?
>>
>> Any input appreciated.
>>
>> Barry
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Víctor Rodríguez-Doncel
>> D3205 - Ontology Engineering Group (OEG)
>> Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial
>> Facultad de Informática
>> Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
>>
>> Campus de Montegancedo s/n
>> Boadilla del Monte-28660 Madrid, Spain
>> Tel. (+34) 91336 3672
>> Skype: vroddon3
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Víctor Rodríguez-Doncel
>> D3205 - Ontology Engineering Group (OEG)
>> Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial
>> Facultad de Informática
>> Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
>>
>> Campus de Montegancedo s/n
>> Boadilla del Monte-28660 Madrid, Spain
>> Tel. (+34) 91336 3672
>> Skype: vroddon3
>
>
>
>
> --
> Víctor Rodríguez-Doncel
> D3205 - Ontology Engineering Group (OEG)
> Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial
> Facultad de Informática
> Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
>
> Campus de Montegancedo s/n
> Boadilla del Monte-28660 Madrid, Spain
> Tel. (+34) 91336 3672
> Skype: vroddon3
>
>
>
>
> --
> Víctor Rodríguez-Doncel
> D3205 - Ontology Engineering Group (OEG)
> Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial
> Facultad de Informática
> Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
>
> Campus de Montegancedo s/n
> Boadilla del Monte-28660 Madrid, Spain
> Tel. (+34) 91336 3672
> Skype: vroddon3



-- 
John S. Erickson, Ph.D.
Director, Web Science Operations
Tetherless World Constellation (RPI)
<http://tw.rpi.edu> <olyerickson@gmail.com>
Twitter & Skype: olyerickson