Creative Commons License Flaws Claimed

bloosqr writes "Dan Heller, in a series of three articles, claims to have found a number of problems with the Creative Commons license, particularly within the realm of photography. In the first article he states there is a problem with people relicensing copyrighted work under the CC license and having subsequent users of that copyrighted work sued by the original owner. In the second article he fleshes out these ideas and states that there is an increased risk of being sued if you use a CC license. Finally, in the third article, he states that people can 'game the CC license' for profit, by suing people who use your CC'd work which you have subsequently revoked from the CC license. This series of blogs has generated a fair amount of discussion on several photography forums, and I would like for the Slashdot community to clarify matters."

Comments

How often does that happen?

[autophile]

...there is a problem with people relicensing copyrighted work under the CC license and having subsequent users of that copyrighted work sued by the original owner

First, how often does that really happen?

Second, why is this a problem with CC? It would be a problem with anyone placing a copyrighted work under any license, or even claiming copyright on a work copyrighted by someone else. It's more a problem with copyright and the legal system.

--Rob

I Must Be Confused ... No Backsies!

[eldavojohn]

Well, I'm familiar with criticism of the creative commons license from people like Dvorak or Debian but there's something here that is confusing to me. The idea that you can un-creative commons something is ... not right.

Finally, in the third article, he states that people can 'game the CC license' for profit, by suing people who use your CC'd work which you have subsequently revoked from the CC license. I haven't read the article, but sounds just wrong to me.

You know, I thought that if you license it as creative commons then all derivative works and the like from that work must also be CC ... although I think I am wrong about that last part, I am so used to and in love with the GPL that it's just how I think.

Well, from the faq:

What if I change my mind?

Creative Commons licenses are non-revocable. This means that you cannot stop someone, who has obtained your work under a Creative Commons license, from using the work according to that license. You can stop distributing your work under a Creative Commons license at any time you wish; but this will not withdraw any copies of your work that already exist under a Creative Commons license from circulation, be they verbatim copies, copies included in collective works and/or adaptations of your work. So you need to think carefully when choosing a Creative Commons license to make sure that you are happy for people to be using your work consistent with the terms of the license, even if you later stop distributing your work. So seriously, you may well be right with the first two issues but this third concept is foreign to me and I'm sure many lawyers would be interested in how you 'revoked?' a license. What the?

I think a lot of these issues would be resolved by making it "no backsies, all derivatives must be CC, tough if you want to use them no lawsuits plz k thanx bye." And that's the best legalese I know.

ummmm

[demonbug]

"...and I would like for the Slashdot community to clarify matters."

I LOL'd.

Why should I worry about Dan Heller's opinions?

[jdgeorge]

As far as I can tell, DHINAL (Dan Heller is not a lawyer). Why would I worry about his opinions, rather than the well informed opinion of Lawrence Lessig, the law professor who actually founded the Creative Commons, and uses the licenses extensively?

WANLBWPLOTV

[WED Fan]

I would like for the Slashdot community to clarify matters.

??!!!??!!

Do you actually think that the /. community contains anything but dangerous and specious interpretations of legal matters?

What next?

You're going to write to a Garden community to ask for medical advice?

Re:WANLBWPLOTV

[WED Fan]

We Are Not Lawyers But We Play Lawyers On T.V.

Re:It Only Has To Happen Once To Be Scary

[snarkbot]

Second, why is this a problem with CC? It would be a problem with anyone placing a copyrighted work under any license, or even claiming copyright on a work copyrighted by someone else. It's more a problem with copyright and the legal system. Well, with any other copyright, I think there's very stringent usage rights set and signed for and everyone's aware of who's using who's material. Not so in the CC world, or at least they don't want it that way. So it's a bigger problem there because people are 'free' to use everything and I'm sure there's sites out there hosting CC sound clips and images and the like. This kind of orgy of use is what makes CC particularly vulnerable to these scam artists. The article appears to complain about the case where a 12-year-old takes a copyrighted, non-CC-licensed commercial photo from a third party, removes any copyright notice, and put its up under a CC license. GP has it right -- this is no different than if the 12-year-old takes that same image and sells it to a third party, or simply hands it to someone and says, "you can use this photo I took for any purpose you like." The same rights and remedies apply, and it really has nothing to do with the CC at all.