Talk:Before Licensing

public domain and fair use cases

"If you are combining pre-existing works made by other people or working in conjunction with other people to produce something, you need to make sure that you have express and explicit permission to apply a Creative Commons license to the end result. You don’t have this kind of permission in the case of, say, a Madonna CD or a Italo Calvino novel, that you purchase, because these are made available under “all rights reserved” copyright. You can only secure this kind of permission if you are in direct contact with the person, discuss Creative Commons licensing with them and they agree to a specific license; of course, if you are combining a work that is already Creative Commons-licensed then you will also have the rights! (provided your use is consistent with the terms of that license)"

I don't think this is complete. If you're combining pre-existing works, you could also do so because the pre-existing work is in the public domain (and thus there is no one from whom permission is required) or because your use is fair (and thus no permission is required). Wendy Seltzer 05:15, 17 January 2008 (CST)

How about this rewording of the quoted paragraph:

If you are combining pre-existing works made by other people (unless those works are in the public domain, and thus there is no one from whom permission is required) or working in conjunction with other people to produce something, you need to make sure that you have express and explicit permission to apply a Creative Commons license to the end result (unless your use of the pre-existing works constitutes fair use, and thus no permission is required). You don’t have this kind of permission in the case of, say, a Madonna CD or a Italo Calvino novel, that you purchase, because these are made available under “all rights reserved” copyright. You can only secure this kind of permission if you are in direct contact with the person, discuss Creative Commons licensing with them and they agree to a specific license; of course, if you are combining a work that is already Creative Commons-licensed then you will also have the rights, provided your use is consistent with the terms of that license!

Mike Linksvayer 12:15, 17 January 2008 (CST)

Making the change now. Mike Linksvayer 10:48, 18 January 2008 (CST)

Thanks Mike! Wendy Seltzer 20:22, 21 January 2008 (CST)