Open Content Licensing

Although open content licenses only account for a fraction of all copyright licenses currently enforced in the world, their introduction has had profound effects on the use and dissemination of information. This book explores the theoretical underpinnings of these licenses and offers insight on the practical advantages and inconveniences of their use. The essays collected here include an objective study of the principles of open content from the perspective of European intellectual property law as well as novel examinations of their possible implementation in different areas of the cultural or information industry.

Open Content Licensing: Cultivating the Creative Commons brings together papers from some of the most prominent thinkers of our time on the internet, law and the importance of open content licensing in the digital age.

If you've held back from developing open source or free software projects because you don't understand the implications of the various licenses, you're not alone. Many developers believe in releasing their software freely, but have hesitated to do so because they're concerned about losing control over their software. Licensing issues are complicated, and both the facts and fallacies you hear word-of-mouth can add to the confusion.Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing helps you make sense of the different options available to you. This concise guide focuses on annotated licenses, offering an in-depth explanation of how they compare and interoperate, and how license choices affect project possibilities. Written in clear language that you don't have to be a lawyer to understand, the book answers such questions as: What rights am I giving up? How will my use of OS/FS licensing affect future users or future developers? Does a particular use of this software--such as combining it with proprietary software--leave me vulnerable to lawsuits?Following a quick look at copyright law, contracts, and the definition of "open source," the book tackles the spectrum of licensing, including: The MIT (or X), BSD, Apache and Academic Free licenses The GPL, LGPL, and Mozilla licenses The QT, Artistic, and Creative Commons licenses Classic Proprietary licenses Sun Community Source license and Microsoft Shared Source project The book wraps up with a look at the legal effects--both positive and negative--of open source/free software licensing.Licensing is a major part of what open source and free software are all about, but it's still one of the most complicated areas of law. Even the very simple licenses are tricky. Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing bridges the gap between the open source vision and the practical implications of its legal underpinnings. If open source and free software licenses interest you, this book will help you understand them. If you're an open source/free software developer, this book is an absolute necessity.

Open Content Licensing: Cultivating the Creative Commons brings together papers from some of the most prominent thinkers of our time on the internet, law and the importance of open content licensing in the digital age.

This practical and explanatory guide for library and cultural heritage professionals introduces and explains the use of open licences for content, data and metadata in libraries and other cultural heritage organisations. Using rich background information, international case studies and examples of best practice, this book outlines how and why open licences should and can be used with the sector’s content, data and metadata. Open Licensing for Cultural Heritage digs into the concept of ‘open’ in relation to intellectual property, providing context through the development of different fields, including open education, open source, open data, and open government. It explores the organisational benefits of open licensing and the open movement, including the importance of content discoverability, arguments for wider collections impact and access, the practical benefits of simplicity and scalability, and more ethical and principled arguments related to protection of public content and the public domain. Content covered includes: an accessible introduction to relevant concepts, themes, and names, including ‘Creative Commons’, ‘attribution’, model licences, and licence versions distinctions between content that has been openly licensed and content that is in the public domain and why professionals in the sector should be aware of these differences an exploration of the organisational benefits of open licensing and the open movement the benefits and risks associated with open licensing a range of practical case studies from organisations including Newcastle Libraries, the University of Edinburgh, Statens Museum for Kunst (the National Gallery of Denmark), and the British Library. This book will be useful reading for staff and policy makers across the gallery, library, archive and museum (GLAM) sector, who need a clear understanding of the open licensing environment, opportunities, risks and approaches to implementation. This includes library and information professionals, library and information services (LIS) professionals working specifically in the digital field (including digital curation, digitisation, digital production, resource discovery developers). It will also be of use to students of LIS Science, digital curation, digital humanities, archives and records management and museum studies.

Provides an overview of issues surrounding electronic media access licenses for librarians.

A comprehensive and practical textbook in the field of intellectual property licensing.