Re: Can "PDB" license be considered free ?
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On Mon, Mar 07, 2016 at 04:38:55PM -0600, Don Armstrong wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Mar 2016, Peter Rice wrote:
> > The conclusion was that scientific data (SwissProt, PDB, etc.) are
> > scientific facts and it is not reasonable to require permission to
> > change them.
>
> This isn't true; there are loads of reasons to change sequences and
> structural models of proteins. Protein sequences are just based on
> references which have inaccuracies and do not represent ancestral
> sequences or the true variation present in real populations; in my lab
> we modify UniProt sequences and redistribute those modifications in
> publications all of the time.
Note that this text only says that if you modify things, you're required to
change the name. In other words, they are protecting the terminology, so when
you use a certain code, everyone is always talking about the same thing. This
is a very reasonable thing to require; without it, the database would be much
less useful.
> All of that said, because PDB and UniProt files are not works of
> authorship, they likely do not qualify for copyright protection in the
> US, so the licensing terms can largely be ignored. However, that may not
> be true of other jurisdictions.
The text that was quoted doesn't really talk about IP; it just says that it
isn't about that: as a user, you must find the license and abide by it. This
is annoying (because it means you must find those licenses before you know if
you can use the data), but I don't blame them.
On the other hand, if you are correct (I have no idea about this data) that it
is not copyrightable, then you also don't need a license, so that solves that
problem.
The question would probably have been better asked on -legal though, so I'm
sending it there. For those reading there without seeing the thread before, it
starts here: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2016/03/msg00091.html
Thanks,
Bas
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