Re: Attribution with CC-BY-SA 3.0
Zoot Zoot dijo [Sat, Sep 01, 2012 at 10:36:03PM +0200]:
> (...)
> We've recently found out that someone is selling (...)
> our concern is that this particular vendor does so in a misleading manner,
> without stating that the game is a development version, full of bugs and
> missing many of the features listed on the vendor's page, and that it can
> be acquired free of cost online. We are worried that this behavior may lead
> to dissatisfied buyers and ultimately damage the reputation of our project.
>
> For this reason, we have discussed adding an attribution clause to our
> CC-BY-SA 3.0 licensed artwork in the game that requires a seller to make
> any buyers aware that the game can be downloaded for free from our website
> prior to the purchase.
Before adding any texts requiring the user to be informed the version
is still incomplete, consider: What if a hypothetical vendor takes
your code and completes all of the missing features and fixes all of
the bugs, and providing replacement artwork? Requiring such an clause
would then make it impossible for such a vendor to use your (otherwise
free) code with their work.
> To the best of my knowledge CC-BY-SA 3.0 affords us the ability to add such
> a clause, and to the best of my knowledge CC-BY-SA 3.0 is compatible with
> the DFSG.
>
> I would like to ask whether you all agree that adding such a clause to a
> Debian package would be compatible with the DFSG and other relevant
> guidelines?
It is often tempting to add a seemingly simple provision to a licence
text. This often results in an incompatible, nonfree license. Try hard
not to add that provision - I would expect the decision with such a
license to have a rationale similar to the GFDL: We consider it free
as long as there are no cover texts or invariant sections. Were you to
add a mandatory paragraph to your work's derivations, it would fail in
a similar way.
Of course, bear in mind that debian-legal is _in_no_way_ an official
Debian decision body, that role is delegated to the ftp-masters
team. Most of the opinions in this list are not even by Debian
Developers - But they might be useful for _your_ analysis of the
situation.
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