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Summary of the CC-by



Debian-legal has concluded that the CC-by (Creative Commons Attribution
license) v1.0 is not a DFSG-free license.

It is quite possible that Creative Commons does not intend this to be a
Free license in the sense of the DFSG.  However, since requiring
attribution and credit is acceptable under the DFSG this summary was
written to point out the other problems with this license.

- It appears (though it's slightly unclear) that credit to original
  author(s) must be as prominently displayed, and in the same location,
  as credit to any other author.  This restricts modification (DFSG 3).

- When any Licensor asks, all references to their name(s) must be purged
  from the work.  This restricts modification (DFSG 3).

- Use of the "Creative Commons" trademark (or related trademark or logo)
  appears to be a license violation, and thus grounds for a copyright
  holder to revoke the license.  This violates the "Tentacles of Evil"
  test[1] and can remove all freedoms the license grants.

Suggestions:

As the copyright holder you could use another license like the 2-clause
BSD.  This license is substantially different, though, so you should
take care to understand the license before you make a choice.

Any attempt to modify the license to pass the DFSG would need to address
the three issues above.

The clause mentioned in the final point above (dealing with the Creative
Commons trademark) is probably not intended to be part of the license at
all, as when viewed in the original HTML with an appropriate browser it
has a different background color and the html source has a comment
indicating that it is "not part of the license".  Making this
distinction explicitly and in text form as well as HTML would solve this
problem.

NOTE: The above is not legal advice.  If you need legal advice you
should contact an attorney.


The latest version of the CC-by license can be found at:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/legalcode

It is included in full below.


[1] Item 8 (c) on the DFSG FAQ:
    http://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------

                               Creative Commons

                          Creative Commons Legal Code

                                Attribution 1.0

CREATIVE COMMONS CORPORATION IS NOT A LAW FIRM AND DOES NOT PROVIDE LEGAL
SERVICES. DISTRIBUTION OF THIS DRAFT LICENSE DOES NOT CREATE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT
RELATIONSHIP. CREATIVE COMMONS PROVIDES THIS INFORMATION ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS.
CREATIVE COMMONS MAKES NO WARRANTIES REGARDING THE INFORMATION PROVIDED, AND
DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ITS USE.

License

THE WORK (AS DEFINED BELOW) IS PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS CREATIVE
COMMONS PUBLIC LICENSE ("CCPL" OR "LICENSE"). THE WORK IS PROTECTED BY
COPYRIGHT AND/OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAW. ANY USE OF THE WORK OTHER THAN AS
AUTHORIZED UNDER THIS LICENSE IS PROHIBITED.

BY EXERCISING ANY RIGHTS TO THE WORK PROVIDED HERE, YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO BE
BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. THE LICENSOR GRANTS YOU THE RIGHTS
CONTAINED HERE IN CONSIDERATION OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF SUCH TERMS AND
CONDITIONS.

1. Definitions

 a. "Collective Work" means a work, such as a periodical issue, anthology or
    encyclopedia, in which the Work in its entirety in unmodified form, along
    with a number of other contributions, constituting separate and independent
    works in themselves, are assembled into a collective whole. A work that
    constitutes a Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work (as
    defined below) for the purposes of this License.
 b. "Derivative Work" means a work based upon the Work or upon the Work and
    other pre-existing works, such as a translation, musical arrangement,
    dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording,
    art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which the
    Work may be recast, transformed, or adapted, except that a work that
    constitutes a Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work for
    the purpose of this License.
 c. "Licensor" means the individual or entity that offers the Work under the
    terms of this License.
 d. "Original Author" means the individual or entity who created the Work.
 e. "Work" means the copyrightable work of authorship offered under the terms
    of this License.
 f. "You" means an individual or entity exercising rights under this License
    who has not previously violated the terms of this License with respect to
    the Work, or who has received express permission from the Licensor to
    exercise rights under this License despite a previous violation.

2. Fair Use Rights. Nothing in this license is intended to reduce, limit, or
restrict any rights arising from fair use, first sale or other limitations on
the exclusive rights of the copyright owner under copyright law or other
applicable laws.

3. License Grant. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, Licensor
hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual (for the
duration of the applicable copyright) license to exercise the rights in the
Work as stated below:

 a. to reproduce the Work, to incorporate the Work into one or more Collective
    Works, and to reproduce the Work as incorporated in the Collective Works;
 b. to create and reproduce Derivative Works;
 c. to distribute copies or phonorecords of, display publicly, perform
    publicly, and perform publicly by means of a digital audio transmission the
    Work including as incorporated in Collective Works;
 d. to distribute copies or phonorecords of, display publicly, perform
    publicly, and perform publicly by means of a digital audio transmission
    Derivative Works;

The above rights may be exercised in all media and formats whether now known or
hereafter devised. The above rights include the right to make such
modifications as are technically necessary to exercise the rights in other
media and formats. All rights not expressly granted by Licensor are hereby
reserved.

4. Restrictions. The license granted in Section 3 above is expressly made
subject to and limited by the following restrictions:

 a. You may distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, or publicly
    digitally perform the Work only under the terms of this License, and You
    must include a copy of, or the Uniform Resource Identifier for, this
    License with every copy or phonorecord of the Work You distribute, publicly
    display, publicly perform, or publicly digitally perform. You may not offer
    or impose any terms on the Work that alter or restrict the terms of this
    License or the recipients' exercise of the rights granted hereunder. You
    may not sublicense the Work. You must keep intact all notices that refer to
    this License and to the disclaimer of warranties. You may not distribute,
    publicly display, publicly perform, or publicly digitally perform the Work
    with any technological measures that control access or use of the Work in a
    manner inconsistent with the terms of this License Agreement. The above
    applies to the Work as incorporated in a Collective Work, but this does not
    require the Collective Work apart from the Work itself to be made subject
    to the terms of this License. If You create a Collective Work, upon notice
    from any Licensor You must, to the extent practicable, remove from the
    Collective Work any reference to such Licensor or the Original Author, as
    requested. If You create a Derivative Work, upon notice from any Licensor
    You must, to the extent practicable, remove from the Derivative Work any
    reference to such Licensor or the Original Author, as requested.
 b. If you distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, or publicly
    digitally perform the Work or any Derivative Works or Collective Works, You
    must keep intact all copyright notices for the Work and give the Original
    Author credit reasonable to the medium or means You are utilizing by
    conveying the name (or pseudonym if applicable) of the Original Author if
    supplied; the title of the Work if supplied; in the case of a Derivative
    Work, a credit identifying the use of the Work in the Derivative Work
    (e.g., "French translation of the Work by Original Author," or "Screenplay
    based on original Work by Original Author"). Such credit may be implemented
    in any reasonable manner; provided, however, that in the case of a
    Derivative Work or Collective Work, at a minimum such credit will appear
    where any other comparable authorship credit appears and in a manner at
    least as prominent as such other comparable authorship credit.

5. Representations, Warranties and Disclaimer

 a. By offering the Work for public release under this License, Licensor
    represents and warrants that, to the best of Licensor's knowledge after
    reasonable inquiry:
     i. Licensor has secured all rights in the Work necessary to grant the
        license rights hereunder and to permit the lawful exercise of the
        rights granted hereunder without You having any obligation to pay any
        royalties, compulsory license fees, residuals or any other payments;
    ii. The Work does not infringe the copyright, trademark, publicity rights,
        common law rights or any other right of any third party or constitute
        defamation, invasion of privacy or other tortious injury to any third
        party.
 b. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THIS LICENSE OR OTHERWISE AGREED IN WRITING
    OR REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE WORK IS LICENSED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS,
    WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING,
    WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES REGARDING THE CONTENTS OR ACCURACY OF
    THE WORK.

6. Limitation on Liability. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW,
AND EXCEPT FOR DAMAGES ARISING FROM LIABILITY TO A THIRD PARTY RESULTING FROM
BREACH OF THE WARRANTIES IN SECTION 5, IN NO EVENT WILL LICENSOR BE LIABLE TO
YOU ON ANY LEGAL THEORY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THIS LICENSE OR THE USE OF THE WORK, EVEN IF
LICENSOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

7. Termination

 a. This License and the rights granted hereunder will terminate automatically
    upon any breach by You of the terms of this License. Individuals or
    entities who have received Derivative Works or Collective Works from You
    under this License, however, will not have their licenses terminated
    provided such individuals or entities remain in full compliance with those
    licenses. Sections 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 will survive any termination of
    this License.
 b. Subject to the above terms and conditions, the license granted here is
    perpetual (for the duration of the applicable copyright in the Work).
    Notwithstanding the above, Licensor reserves the right to release the Work
    under different license terms or to stop distributing the Work at any time;
    provided, however that any such election will not serve to withdraw this
    License (or any other license that has been, or is required to be, granted
    under the terms of this License), and this License will continue in full
    force and effect unless terminated as stated above.

8. Miscellaneous

 a. Each time You distribute or publicly digitally perform the Work or a
    Collective Work, the Licensor offers to the recipient a license to the Work
    on the same terms and conditions as the license granted to You under this
    License.
 b. Each time You distribute or publicly digitally perform a Derivative Work,
    Licensor offers to the recipient a license to the original Work on the same
    terms and conditions as the license granted to You under this License.
 c. If any provision of this License is invalid or unenforceable under
    applicable law, it shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the
    remainder of the terms of this License, and without further action by the
    parties to this agreement, such provision shall be reformed to the minimum
    extent necessary to make such provision valid and enforceable.
 d. No term or provision of this License shall be deemed waived and no breach
    consented to unless such waiver or consent shall be in writing and signed
    by the party to be charged with such waiver or consent.
 e. This License constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with
    respect to the Work licensed here. There are no understandings, agreements
    or representations with respect to the Work not specified here. Licensor
    shall not be bound by any additional provisions that may appear in any
    communication from You. This License may not be modified without the mutual
    written agreement of the Licensor and You.

Creative Commons is not a party to this License, and makes no warranty
whatsoever in connection with the Work. Creative Commons will not be liable to
You or any party on any legal theory for any damages whatsoever, including
without limitation any general, special, incidental or consequential damages
arising in connection to this license. Notwithstanding the foregoing two (2)
sentences, if Creative Commons has expressly identified itself as the Licensor
hereunder, it shall have all rights and obligations of Licensor.

Except for the limited purpose of indicating to the public that the Work is
licensed under the CCPL, neither party will use the trademark "Creative
Commons" or any related trademark or logo of Creative Commons without the prior
written consent of Creative Commons. Any permitted use will be in compliance
with Creative Commons' then-current trademark usage guidelines, as may be
published on its website or otherwise made available upon request from time to
time.

Creative Commons may be contacted at http://creativecommons.org/.

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-- 
Jeremy Hankins <nowan@nowan.org>
PGP fingerprint: 748F 4D16 538E 75D6 8333  9E10 D212 B5ED 37D0 0A03



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