Are you ready to "terminate"? CC's "termination of transfers" BETA
This is a fun project I've been pushing inside CC which, thanks to endless work by our GC Mia Garlick and a Stanford student, Dana Powers, has now launched as a beta.
The background is this: US copyright law gives creators an inalienable right to terminate any "transfer" or assignment of copyright after 35 years. The idea was to give the creator a second bite at the apple, an idea that goes back to the first US copyright law.
The problem with the procedure is -- surprise, surprise! -- it is INSANELY complicated. It is almost as if -- AS IF -- it was designed not to be used.
So Creative Commons decided it would take a crack at making the system easier. We've developed a tool that will help an author determine whether or when an assignment is terminable. And our idea is to work with legal aid clinics around the country to refer likely terminators for final termination (it is an irresistible word for us Californians).
At this stage, the tool doesn't refer you. And you should not use or rely on anything that comes from this BETA. But we'd be very eager for people to play around with it and give us feed back on the tool. When we're really confident we've got all the logic right, and it's clear enough, and when we've lined up volunteer projects around the country to represent authors whose transfers are to be terminated, we'll launch the project.
Why is this a Creative Commons project? We've seen CC from the start as a tool to help creators manage an insanely complicated copyright system. When we have this running, we'll offer any copyright owner who has reclaimed his or her rights the opportunity to distribute the work under a CC license. But that will be optional. Right now, we're just offering the tool to make it simpler for authors to get what the copyright system was intended to give them.
| Permalink | technorati
Comments (50)
I wonder when the first of the copyright assignments to the FSF for GPL'd GNU software becomes terminable, and how many author's executors and trustees will notice.
Doesn't this mean that for example, the share alike licence can not be trusted as it can be rescinded and make all derivative works infringing some time down the track? Perhaps this feature has not been used because it reduces trust in the licences on works and makes nothing safe for use. The commons becomes the beam of a followspot and anyone who does not keep up with it is a criminal?
This is similar to a project I did as an independent study last semester here at UNC. My site is up on my school’s library site:
http://library.law.unc.edu/termination/
Yours seems cleaner and more complete, but double checking this kind of calculation may be nice. Also, mine might be a little more flexible in computing the notice window based on different exact termination dates, but I’m not certain. The preliminary questions that your site asks at the beginning are only presented to users at my site as a checklist.
I agree that figuring out the logic to compute this stuff was not easy, as I had to read and re-read the statute many times and make sure my logic matched exactly. The second window was particularly tricky.
My code (a few php scripts) is available on my site too, for anyone to verify or build upon, along with a flowchart I made to map out the logic. In addition, I have a paper that I will soon post on my site that I also completed as part of the independent study. It discusses application of terminations to open source and CC licenses and proposes a solution to the problem. I’ll try to get it on the site within a few days now that I have reminded myself to do it.
Thanks for this very good article :)
Enjoyed browsing through the site. Keep up the good work. Greetings from Poland
I think these blog is really useful for new comers and Excellent resource list.
Can I add link to this article on my site? In my opinion is very helpful article
I really like this website. It`s unique and I will keep it in my mind for a long time. Good work! Greetings.
very great site!
very great site!
I think these blog is really useful for new comers and Excellent resource list.
Great and interesting article.
Fantastic article covering some points I really needed some good usability info for.
Fantastic article covering some points I really needed some good usability info for.
Thank you for this good information. I am glad of reading interesting comments
Great and excellent article t’s realy helpful. Thanks again.
great site with very good look and perfect information...i like it
This site is interesting and very informative, nicely interface. Enjoyed browsing through the site
Brilliant article! I enjoyed reading it
Great work ! I really enjoyed browsing through this site. I will recommend it to my friends. Greetings
Great and excellent article t’s realy helpful. Thanks again.
Wow. Very impressive.
The problem with the procedure is — surprise, surprise! — it is INSANELY complicated. It is almost as if — AS IF — it was designed not to be used.
if only we could terminate comment spam...
The best thing about creative commons project is that it's translated into many languages.
great site!
Fantastic article covering some points I really needed some good usability info for.
Great and excellent article t�s realy helpful. Thanks again.
Brilliant article! I enjoyed reading it
Good site.Congrats.
This article is very interesting and written by some clever guy.:) Thank you!
hey! your article is great. thanks
Thanks for this article. I like your posts
Hello
Nice one. good explanation of the topic
Greetings
Thanx a lot! This is very useful.
I have not actually tried to do it yet, but I did look at it. It looks VERY hard and complex. I am not sure if I will be able to use it. Yes, there are steps that help with it. And yes it does sound like a really cool idea. But my problem is, I am not sure it is worth it. Maybe if more people could talk about it and what it is like and involves. Could maybe you put some more reviews or opinions of people on here that have used it. Maybe even someone that has different steps that could make it easier to do. I know there has to be someone out there that is looking into how to make it easier to use this. I am also interested in maybe there are other things like this out there. I have been very interested in this area for a while.
Brilliant article! I enjoyed reading it
thank you for the article, I've read it from the beginning to the very end and this is something uncommon with me:)
thanks very good article
"Are you ready to "terminate"? CC's "termination of transfers" BETA" - Good work. Cogratulations
Works like a charm for me, thanks a lot for this!
Interesting Article, thank you for sharing your thoughts.
You are absolutelly right guys
What do you mean, man?
It's crazy how much of the copyright system is precisely this complicated – and designed (as if) it wasn't really supposed to be used.
This seems like an incredibly useful tool, and has inspired me to look for similar sort of tools that would work in the copyrighting in my own country. It does seem, though, that US copyright laws are a heck of a lot more complicated in many respects.
Hello
Nice one. good explanation of the topic Greetings
You are right but I think it is not good solution for me
Thanks for very interesting article. btw. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts. It’s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else’s point of view… makes you think more.
thanks
I've got not doubt that it probably WAS designed to really never be used, making it insanely complicated so that most people would simply forget about it and try to move on with their lives. There really is no doubt about that. So, what you guys are doing here I find very, very interesting. And brilliant, at the same time. It's amazing that people would take the time to sort this kind of thing out for others – really a wonderful thing that.
I've got not doubt that it probably WAS designed to really never be used, making it insanely complicated so that most people would simply forget about it and try to move on with their lives. There really is no doubt about that. So, what you guys are doing here I find very, very interesting. And brilliant, at the same time. It's amazing that people would take the time to sort this kind of thing out for others – really a wonderful thing that.