RE: Library subs for works licensed under Creative Commons

[Sandy Thatcher <sgt3@psu.edu>]

If only we knew what "noncommercial" means! As Karl Bridges's 
comment on this thread suggests, the meaning is hardly obvious. 
Just to give one example, is the use by a researcher who works 
for Texaco "noncommercial"? Remember that the court in the 
landmark Texaco photocopying case ruled that although the 
immediate use was for research, the ultimate purpose for this use 
was commercial.

And the judges in the Michigan Document Services case split 8-5 
on whether the copying done by the MDS copyshop was fair use or 
not, some judges believing that the ultimate use was for 
educational purposes, hence noncommercial, while others felt that 
the immediate use was commercial because it brought profits for 
the copyshop. If judges can't figure this out, far be it for us 
mere lay people to do so. The CC license relies crucially on this 
distinction, but it is anything but evident that it has a clear 
and straightforward meaning. Even Larry Lessig once said (toward 
the end of "The Future of Ideas") that it is a distinction that 
cannot be sustained in the Internet age.

Sandy Thatcher
Penn State University Press


>Hi Ann,
>
>Can you clarify what activities you would like to see specified
>in a further agreement?  The CC license you mention says that the
>copyright owner has given the general public, including the
>library, the right to make and distribute copies of the work so
>long as this is done for non-commercial purposes and not as part
>of a derivative work, and as long as the author's name is not
>removed or attribution is otherwise given to the author (or to
>whatever other party the licensor may have directed).
>
>So nothing further need be specified with respect to access or
>archiving unless the library or other user wants to make a
>commercial use or a derivative work.  In those cases a further
>agreement concerning those uses would be necessary.  But that's
>because those uses are outside the CC license.
>
>Best,
>Mike
>
>
>Michael W. Carroll
>Visiting Professor of Law
>American University, Washington College of Law
>Washington, D.C. 20016