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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Peter Howkins wrote:
> Oh and one final implimentation point that may have been missed by the
> SteerCo, the license chosen will have to apply to parts on an individual
> basis as the parts are individually copyrighted. You cannot license the
> library as a whole as it is a collection of copyrighted works.
How are parts individually copyrighted?
Actually, what exactly is a 'part'? Is a shock absorber a single part, or an
assembly of several parts? How about a minifig torso (as they exist in lego sets)?
If you want to talk about have to copyright atomic components of the library, you
should probably talk about individual files, not parts. One part may require several
files. And some helper files are shared between multiple parts.
And then there's the issue of having multiple people working on a file. What if
James Jessiman wrote a part, and then Tore grabbed some of that code, and added some
more code (maybe for a pattern) to make a new file? Then Orion corrected some
mistakes in the code? And Steffen BFC'ed it? And Mark Kennedy replaced some of the
polygons/lines with primitive references? And then Chris Dee cleaned up the header,
maybe changing the title around?[1]
In this case, who'd have copyright on what? Other than LEGO, who has extensive IP
over the whole design, because they made the part in the first place.
I think the only sensible way for LDraw.org to address IP on the library is to thank
each contributor for their contribution, require them to grant some form of
non-exclusive, non-revocable license. And then grant user licenses to the whole
library, and all of its parts.
--
Steve
1) Please don't think I'm making up some extreme case. The names and actions were
chosen based on authors' frequent activity in regards to library files. :) And
having 6 sets of busy fingers involved in a single file (over time) is not
exceptional, but is probably a pretty good guess at the average.
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: License Intent
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| (...) If anybody has copyright to a _part_, it must by default be LEGO. But the copyright to a rendering of a part in one or a number of LDraw files is held jointly by all the involved parties (ignoring the difficult question of exactly how small (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jun-04, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
| | | Re: License Intent
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| (...) You are correct here, I should have used the term 'file' or 'work' instead of 'part'. From a copyright standpoint I mean 'work of an author'. (...) There are two ways to looks at this issue. 1) Get permission of all those involved and get them (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jun-04, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: License Intent
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| (...) Is a non commercial clause part of the SteerCo's intent? It wasn't mentioned in the initial post or in Larry's update. Could you clarify for me? Discounting the use of rendered parts in commercial products, eg. Larry selling ldraw rendered (...) (20 years ago, 4-Jun-04, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
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