4.0/Draft 2

PAGE IN PROGRESS!

Welcome to the Public Discussion of Draft 2

This page provides information specific to the public discussion of the second draft of version 4.0 (denoted 4.0d2). The two license drafts presented are the result of discussions with the global CC community and CC’s many Affiliates via the license-discuss email lists, wiki pages, affiliate consultations and in direct meetings.

Please help us continue the discussion by submitting comments on the license-discuss list.

We expect the comment period to remain open until early September, and to publish draft 3 by October. This is intentionally designed as a shorter consultation period than the lengthy (but important) discussion period following draft 1. In this period, we plan to focus on final policy questions and refinements to the draft.

(Note that for purposes of this second public discussion period, we are publishing BY-NC-SA (international) and BY-SA (international) only. BY-NC-SA contains most of the elements necessary to build the other four licenses (BY, BY-NC, BY-ND, and BY-NC-ND). Look for complete drafts of all six licenses with draft 3.)

Treatment of issues and proposals in Draft 2

The discussion topic pages tracked on our 4.0 wiki explanations for how the relevant issues have been handled and decisions made in connection with this draft 2. We encourage you to review the explanations at the top of each page (marked as such) for the most comprehensive explanation of the overall treatment of each topic. As well, please be sure to review the Sandbox page and our new Compatibility page where information related to the treatment of other topics is provided. Finally, the numbered proposals on each topic page have a corresponding note if the topic was addressed in some manner in this draft. We have also included an occasional prompt to highlight where additional feedback is especially requested

Policy and drafting decisions

The excellent discussions involving draft 1 surfaced a wide range of views on several important topics, which we in turn feel have been well vetted. This allows us to largely resolve some issues with this draft 2, subject to any remaining fine tuning or new information. Please note that CC is discussing compatibility with the Free Art License community and the Free Software Foundation [link to /Compatibility page]. We have tried to progress those to conclusion prior to publishing draft 2, but we are still in discussions. Given the many improvements that have been made since draft 1, we are choosing to publish draft 2 for review notwithstanding. It is possible that outcomes from the compatibility discussions will require revisions to the following provisions in draft 3, but we do not foresee any fundamental changes which would have the effect of a dramatic change in course.

• Scope of license. As previous, we are committed to licensing neighboring rights and others that are closely related to copyright and could interfere with exercise of copyright. We have eliminated the license-waiver distinction for copyright and ancillary rights in favor of unified treatment whereby all copyright and copyright-like rights (defined in the text) are licensed, and the term “ancillary rights” is removed altogether. Please see the License Subject Matter page [link] for more information, and the request for specific feedback on this topic for purposes of refinement [link].

• Attribution. These requirements have been further clarified, though they largely remain the same as in draft 1. See a comparison chart detailing changes across 4.0d1 and 4.0d2, as well as compared to v3.0.

• NonCommercial. After much consideration, we are settling on preserving the existing 3.0 treatment for 4.0, and turning our attention to proposals related to branding and communication about the NC licenses. Please see the NonCommercial page for further explanation and next steps.

• ShareAlike. We have improved the definition of adaptation, though without change in scope, and removed (just as in d1) references to “Collection”. We are also choosing not to deviate from CC’s current (and historic) policy of requiring SA for adaptations but not other reuses of the work, including in collections. Please see the ShareAlike page for details.

• Technical Protection Measures. The restriction on use of effective technological measures remains in draft 2. Two proposals were seriously advanced and evaluated; however, we are not prepared to adopt either for reasons detailed on the TPM page. Note that we will be looking at ways to facilitate the waiver of this restriction for those licensors who do not object to licensees applying TPMs.

Pending Discussion Topics

We welcome feedback on the many changes and improvements made in this draft, including input on the provisions contained in Section 6 (Additional Terms). Additionally, several issues remain for consideration in this d2 public discussion period:

• Compatibility-related issues. As noted above, Creative Commons is working with other members of the open community to explore compatibility between FAL 1.3 and BY-SA 4.0, and between GNU GPLv3 and BY and BY-SA 4.0. Because of this, there are some features of the 4.0 licenses (as of d2) that may need to be adjusted to achieve compatibility. We plan to post updates to the license development list shortly and vet any proposed changes and compatibility determinations.

• Collecting societies. Still open is the question of extended collective licensing arrangements, an issue that arose during the d1 public discussion. We expect to submit a proposal for consideration to the license development email list shortly following publication of d2 based in part on targeted feedback we received from our affiliates in Europe.

• Termination. We also continue to consider a change in the termination provision that would build in a cure period and/or provisional reinstatement. This will be informed in part (though not entirely) on the compatibility discussions currently underway.

• Database rights. We will be seeking a final round of input on the finer points of licensing sui generis database rights. These are unrelated to the decision already made to license those rights on par with copyright in 4.0, but will ensure smooth functioning of the licenses as regards those rights.

• NC Branding/Communication. As noted above, we are turning our attention to a strategic discussion on the future of the NC license suite vis-à-vis CC’s other licenses. This topic will be framed for discussion and the license development list updated shortly.

• Operation of the license. CC is preparing detailed information about how the international licenses are intended to operate and be interpreted across varying jurisdictions. We expect this may result in an interpretation provision (to be included in Section 7). Information will be published shortly to the wiki.

Feedback requests, including topics and policies still under consideration

Please join the CC license-discuss list or add your input directly to the CC 4.0 wiki.

Reserved for after Draft 3

A reminder that the porting discussion is in abeyance until after publication of d3. Notwithstanding, CC’s affiliates are expected to raise now any problematic issues they anticipate as regards operation of the licenses in their jurisdictions. This will allow adjustments to be considered prior to d3.