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Culture vs. Copyright
performances of the work, as well as any derivative works based on the work, as further described below.
Civil Liberties Unrestricted. Nothing in this license is intended to reduce, limit, or restrict any fair use, the first sale doctrine, or the public side of the copyright bargain under copyright law, or to in any other way limit any rights bestowed under consumer protection or other applicable laws (. . .)”
Comments
The following are some advantages of the license:
- Freedom of use: Although it is not directly expressed within this license, both commercial and noncommercial use of a work is allowed.
- Attribution is mandatory.
- This license is not applicable to a rights holder who is not the author. However, sale of rights is not directly forbidden.
- The license text itself is not copyrighted, thus it can be freely used to build new licenses in countries where copyright is not automatic. This means you cannot base another license upon it in the U.S.
- This license relies not only on copyright laws (country unspecified) but on fair use, first sale, and free speech doctrines. Such legalities can be null and void in countries other than the United States. Freedom of speech is mentioned in the aims of the license, but not openly expressed in the “Terms and Conditions of Use” section. EFF may have been implying this when they stated “or other applicable laws,” but since this is unclear, the support of freedom of speech in this license is in question.
The following are limitations of the license:
- It is limited to use in music-related areas only.
- It does not offer incentives to the publishers and sponsors of work and, consequently, limits the author’s incentives.
