[Wikipedia-l] Re: Public Library of Science GFDL Compatible

Thu Oct 30 23:38:20 UTC 2003

On Thursday, Oct 30, 2003, at 15:17 US/Pacific, Stephen Gilbert wrote:
> There is not single "Creative Commons" license. The project allows you
> to pick the attributes you want, and then gives you a license that
> covers them. In the case of the PLoF, they have only chosen to require
> attribution. A summary of their license is here:
> http://www.plos.org/journals/license . It allows modifications for any
> purpose, and since they have not opted for a copyleft clause, 
> derivative
> works can be released under any license, including the GFDL.

Jimmy raised the question of paragraph 4(a) of the CC-Attributions 
license, which is the one PLoF uses:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/legalcode

===========================
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.
===========================

It appears on its face to a non-lawyer like myself to not be compatible 
with relicensing under the GFDL -- a more restrictive license -- at 
all. Can anyone clarify this?

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)