On Sep 15, 2010, at 4:02 PM, Keith Alexander wrote: > Hi, > > I want to update the documentation for voiD[1] (an RDF vocabulary for > describing datasets) to include discussion of waivers and the Waiver > Vocabulary[2]. > Currently, the voiD guide recommends using dcterms:license[3] to point > to the license of a dataset. The waiver vocabulary introduces > wv:waiver to point toa document waiving rights over a dataset. > . > Two things worry me: > > * It's not always obvious whether to use dcterms:license or wv:waiver. > eg: PDDL is a license, and declares a waiving of rights? > * to work out the terms of use of a dataset, you have to look at the > values(s) of both dcterms:license and wv:waiver. > > Would it be wrong to use dcterms:license to point to a waiver? > Could wv:waiver be regarded as a more special kind of dcterms:license > or is it a different thing?
IANAL, but from what I understand, a license is not a contract, and a license is not a waiver [1-4]. Creative Commons specifically terms CC0 as a waiver of license, while its traditional CC licenses are, well, licenses. It is common but inaccurate assumption to think of licenses the same as contracts. Copyright is a license, and is governed by federal laws in the US. A contract requires at least two parties to agree to certain terms and conditions, and is governed by state laws in the US. According to my law dictionary, a license is a unilateral permission granted by a property owner to do certain things with the licensed property. A waiver is the absence of a license. I wish this confusion were resolved, and the popular usage and the bookish definitions would come into conformance. [1] http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/my_pubs/lu-12.html [2] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031214210634851 [3] http://lwn.net/Articles/61292/ [4] http://punkish.org/Licensing-Geographic-Data > > Thanks > > Keith > > [1] http://rdfs.org/ns/void/guide > [2] http://vocab.org/waiver/terms/ > [3] http://purl.org/dc/terms/license > > _______________________________________________ > okfn-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss -- Puneet Kishor http://punkish.org Carbon Model http://carbonmodel.org Charter Member, Open Source Geospatial Foundation http://www.osgeo.org Science Commons Fellow, http://sciencecommons.org/about/whoweare/kishor Nelson Institute, UW-Madison http://www.nelson.wisc.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Assertions are politics; backing up assertions with evidence is science ======================================================================= _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
