[Aust-NZ] Anyone able to get/offer proper legal advice over ODBL?

John Smith deltafoxtrot256 at gmail.com
Mon Dec 7 18:37:46 EST 2009


2009/12/8  <pcreso at pcreso.com>:
> Not legal advice, but some comments/concerns based on what I know of it that might help. I'm pretty sure my comments are correct :-) but check with your lawyer, & you might still create your own licence & get it certified as compatible with ODBL.

If we had legal advice or the resources to get legal advice it
wouldn't have gone to this list :)

> It is a DATABASE licence and explicitly does NOT cover the CONTENT of the database. CC is basically a content licence. (see para 2 of the ODBL preamble for an overview). I'm not familiar with how OSM plans to switch to ODBL, but I'd assume as a composite DB the content will be covered by the original licences from the data suppliers, & the ODBL will cover the database.

The assumption here I think is based on US law where a database of
facts aren't copyrightable.

> ODBL also includes a specified attribution clause facilitating data reuse, CC does not (CC only provides _for_ an attribution clause, it does not actually provide it).

The bigger concern is how would ODBL affect data that is licensed as
CC-BY, especially if the data is CC-BY-SA?


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