Re: CC license on figures in specs?

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 2:03 PM, Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org> wrote:
> On 15 Dec 2011, at 3:55 PM, fantasai wrote:
>> On 12/15/2011 08:35 AM, Ian Jacobs wrote:
>>> On 15 Dec 2011, at 10:27 AM, Henry S. Thompson wrote:
>>>> Anybody ever put e.g. a CC 3.0 Sharealike with citation license on one
>>>> or more figures in a W3C Rec.?  Any reason not to?
>>>
>>> Hi Henry,
>>>
>>> I believe that would conflict with the Document License.
>>
>> Indeed. Which brings up an issue: we might want to make an update to the
>> Document License saying that examples and figures are in the public domain.
>> Example code, especially. The point is to allow them as a starting point
>> for reuse. :)
>
> Henry mentioned fair use, so perhaps this is already possible under the Document License.

The problem with Fair Use is:

1) It's a US-only thing; many other countries that recognize US
copyright or have similar copyright structures do not recognize the US
concept of Fair Use, and
2) Fair Use is generally considered "a defense, not a right", meaning
that one can still be taken to court and forced to prove that one's
use was within the Fair Use guidelines, which is both costly and risky
even if one is quite certain one is in the right

There's no reason whatsoever to hold our copyright on the examples and
figures, except that changing a license requires some lawyerly
attention.

~TJ

Received on Friday, 16 December 2011 00:54:43 UTC