Re: W3C Excerpt and Citation license

Ted Guild <ted@w3.org> writes:

> W3C is creating an excerpt license (current draft online [1]) and
> hoping to get public review and feedback, including particularly from
> the Open Source community.

The complete license is reproduced below, for easy review on
debian-legal.

One problematic part seem to be (my emphasis):

  Permission to copy, to use, to create derivatives of parts of the work
  (but not the entire work), or to create extended citations or
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  excerpts, without fee or royalty is hereby granted provided that the
  licensee:

I think this fails DFSG#3 which requires that you can create derivative
works.

Further, this part:

   The target content must not create a derivative specification.

It appears to fail DFSG#6 which requires that the license do not
discriminate against some fields of endeavor.

/Simon

[Draft] W3CŪ Excerpt & Citation License

Status: This document was announced publicly on 4 March 2009. Please send any comments to site-policy@w3.org by 18 March 2009.

Public documents on the W3C website that are provided under the W3C Document License can also be used under this W3C Excerpt License. By using and/or copying this document, or any W3C document that either links to the then current document license or to this license, you (the licensee) agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with the terms and conditions that follow. For further information, please see the Explanatory Note on the W3CŪ Excerpt & Citation License.

The permissions below are granted for documents in any medium that refer to this license or to the W3C Document Licence and that have been created for the purpose of software documentation, defined to be: any material intended to help users understand software features or functionalities that implement parts of a W3C specification. This includes but is not limited to material provided in Help systems.
Permissions

Permission to copy, to use, to create derivatives of parts of the work (but not the entire work), or to create extended citations or excerpts, without fee or royalty is hereby granted provided that the licensee:

Attribution

        * include links or URLs to the original W3C documents used on at least one prominent place of the software documentation
        * include this text at the same location:

              This documentation has been created using excerpts from one or more referenced W3C Documents. More information can be found on the original W3C Documents. The use of citations or excerpts according to the W3C excerpt and citation license does not create an endorsement by W3C in any way. Legal notices and licenses from W3C are available at http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice. 

No derivative specifications
    The target content must not create a derivative specification. Specifically, it must not:

        * resemble visually the original specification;
        * use the W3C logo;
        * copy or mimic any 'Status of this Document' section.
        * copy or mimic the head of the document until the copyright section

Disclaimer
    Include the following disclaimer:

        W3C DOCUMENTS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS," AND NEITHER COPYRIGHT HOLDERS NOR W3C MAKE REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR TITLE; THAT THE CONTENTS OF THE DOCUMENT ARE SUITABLE FOR ANY PURPOSE; NOR THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH CONTENTS WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS.

        NEITHER W3C NOR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OF THE INITIAL DOCUMENTS WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF THE DOCUMENT CITED OR USED OR THE PERFORMANCE OR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONTENTS THEREOF.

Other Rights

No further right to create modifications or derivatives of W3C documents is granted pursuant to this license subject to the following exceptions:

    * If additional requirements (documented in the Copyright FAQ) are satisfied, the right to create modifications or derivatives is sometimes granted by the W3C to individuals complying with those requirements.

The name and trademarks of NEITHER W3C NOR of the copyright holders may be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to this document or its contents without specific, written prior permission. Title to copyright in this document and in the documents that link to this license will at all times remain with W3C and the copyright holders.

Received on Friday, 6 March 2009 09:53:40 UTC