2009/1/21 Anthony <wikim...@inbox.org>: > As in CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported? You know, the one that says "You must not > distort, mutilate, modify or take other derogatory action in relation to the > Work which would be prejudicial to the Original Author's honor or > reputation"?
That quote is pulled out of context in a fashion that completely obscures its meaning and intent. When this issue was discussed on commons-l, Catharina Maracke, the head of CCi, provided the following explanation: > Generally speaking, moral rights have to be addressed in the > unported license to assure that this license would be enforceable > by law in every jurisdiction, whether moral rights are exist or > not. The criticism, that the wording of the moral rights section in > the unported license could be read as if the licensee has the > obligation "....to not distort, mutilate, modify or take any other > derogatory action in relation to the work which would be > prejudicial to the original authors honor or reputation" in every > jurisdiction, even if moral rights are do not exist, is not legally > correct. > > The important phrase "except otherwise permitted by applicable law" > refers to every jurisdiction, whether moral rights exist or not. > This means, that in a jurisdiction, where moral rights do exist, > this whole sentence is dispensable, because the applicable law does > not permit anything else, meaning we have to respect moral rights > (and in particular the moral right of integrity), meaning the > licensee is not allowed to "distort, mutilate, modify or take any > other derogatory action in relation to the work which would be > prejudicial to the original authors honor or reputation" - whether > we like it or not. > > In a jurisdiction, where moral rights do not exist, the first part > of the sentence "or as otherwise permitted by applicable law" > explicitly makes an exception to the rest of the sentence "....to > not distort, mutilate, modify or take any other derogatory action > in relation to the work which would be prejudicial to the original > authors honor or reputation". This exception ensures that in a > jurisdiction, where moral rights do not exist, the latter part of > the sentence will not be applicable: "except otherwise permitted by > applicable law" means "except the respective copyright legislation > permits every adaptation of the work", which is (only) the case, if > moral rights are do not exist and not included in the respective > law. The only problem here is the understanding of the wording "as > otherwise permitted by applicable law". The right "to distort, > mutilate, modify or take any other derogatory action in relation to > the work which would be prejudicial to the original authors honor > or reputation" will not be explicitly allowed by applicable > copyright law, but you need to know, that it is not prohibited, if > moral rights are do not exist. > > However, I also see the point, that besides being legally correct, > CC licenses should be easily to understand. If people don't use CC > licenses, because they don't understand them, we would have failed, > even if the licenses are "accurate" in view of the law. We need to > find the balance between legally well drafted licenses and a simple > language. I agree, that the wording of the moral rights section in > the "unported" license could probably have been drafted in a > simpler way and less confusing so that everyone understands and it > does not have to be discussed and explained in lots of E- mails. As Catharine wrote then, this is an issue of clarity. I hope that it can be addressed in future revisions, but I don't regard it as a stumbling block for adopting the Unported license. Furthermore, per 4.b.iii., CC-BY-SA is mutually interchangeable with the various jurisdiction-specific licenses. -- Erik Möller Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l