Aristotle Pagaltzis wrote:
> That issue is inheritance.
Let me give an example of problematic inheritance...
Some have suggested that there be a "License" that you can associate
with Atom feeds and entries. However, scoping becomes very important in this
case because of some peculiarities of the legal system.
One can copyright an individual thing and one can copyright a
collection of things. A claim of copyright in a collection is not, however,
necessarily a claim of copyright over the elements of the collection.
Similarly, a claim of copyright over an element of the collection doesn't
reduce any claim of copyright in the collection itself.
If we assume inheritance from feed elements, then without further
specification, it isn't possible to claim copyright in the collection that
is the feed without claiming copyright in its individual parts. What you'd
have to do is create two distinct types of claim (one for collection and one
for item. That's messy.)
I'm sure that copyright and licenses aren't the only problematic
contexts here.
bob wyman
