Open Content Licensing From Theory to Practice,

This book assembles chapters written by renowned European scholars on a number of selected issues relating to open content licensing. It offers a comprehensive and objective study of the principles of open content from a European intellectual property law perspective and of their possible implementation in practice.

Creative Commons Licenses: What to Do with the Database Right?, L. Guibault, Computers and Law Magazine, 'The Future of Open', 2011-6.

Contrary to other types of open content licenses, Creative Commons licenses are intended to be translated and adapted to the laws of a maximum of jurisdictions in the world. Local or regional peculiarities of the copyright regime can sometimes require an adaptation to the licenses that would disrupt their worldwide similarity. This article focuses on one of these peculiarities: the European sui generis database right. It describes how the database right was excluded from the scope of the Creative Commons licenses and discusses the possible consequences of such an exclusion for the Creative Commons movement and for the users of the licenses in Europe.

Creative Commons Licenses Legal Pitfalls: Incompatibilities and Solutions, M. Dulong de Rosnay, September 2010.

Creative Commons licenses have been designed to facilitate the use and reuse of creative works by granting some permissions in advance. However, the system is complex with a multiplicity of licenses options, formats and versions available, including translations into different languages and adaptation to specific legislations towards versions which are declared compatible among each other after an international porting process. It should be assessed whether all ported licenses cover exactly the same subject matter, rights and restrictions or whether small language differences may have an impact on the rights actually granted and legal security of current users or the availability of works for future generations to access and build upon. Besides, other possible sources of legal uncertainty and incompatibility, as well as their actual or potential consequences, need to be evaluated, such as the validity and enforceability of the licenses across jurisdictions with different and possibly inconsistent legislations, the variations between the licenses summary and the licenses text written in legal language, the interoperability with other copyleft licenses. This study presents the different licenses (chapter 2), identifies various possible sources of legal incompatibility (chapter 3), evaluates their actual impact (chapter 4) and finally proposes options to mitigate risks and improve compatibility, consistency, clarity and legal security (chapter 5).

Creative Commons and Related Rights in Sound Recordings: Are the Two Systems Compatible?, C.J. Angelopoulos, December 2009.

Technically it is entirely possible to attach a Creative Commons license to a sound recording - but does the law permit it? This study examines the rights of performers and producers in the sound recordings they create, the collective management systems in place for the exploitation of those rights, and the relevant terms of the Creative Commons licenses. On this basis, it attempts to assess whether Creative Commons licenses can be attached to sound recordings, whether the use of such licenses can be combined with the collective management of related rights in sound recordings and, if so, under what circumstances and conditions this can be achieved.

Creative commons licensing for public sector information: Opportunities and pitfalls, M.M.M. van Eechoud & B. van der Wal, Institute for Information Law, 2007.

The Creative Commons model seems an attractice instrument for public sector bodies that seek to enhance transparent access to their information, be it for purposes of democratic accountability or re-use for economic or other uses. This study examined that hypothesis and highlights the major opportunities and pitfalls of the Creative Commons model for public sector information. It assesses where there is a match between the creative commons model and the principles of freedom of information law and the Public Sector Information Directive (EC Directive 2003/98 on the re-use of public sector information) as implemented in the new chapter V-A of the Dutch Freedom of Information Act (Wet Openbaarheid van Bestuur). The assessment was made not only at the more principled, abstract level, but also at the level of the individual licensing terms. It is preceded by an analysis of government information as subject of intellectual property rights, under the Dutch Copyright Act and the Database Act.

Creative Commons and Author's Rights: Les extrèmes se touchent, P.B. Hugenholtz, lezing gegeven bij Duke Law School op 24 oktober 2005.
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Conceived from radically different visions of copyright, American-bred Creative Commons and Old Europe-style authors' rights (droit d'auteur) have more in common than initially meets the eye. Focusing on the rights and freedoms of creators, both systems recognize certain inalienable moral rights, such as a right to attribution and a right of integrity. Moreover, for both systems to achieve their professed goals, it is vital that copyright in works of authorship remain with the actual creators, and not be transferred to the media companies or collecting societies that wish to exploit them. Therefore, certain statutory limits to freedom of contract aimed at preventing (overly) broad grants of rights are required. Strong author-protective contract rules currently exist in many traditional authors' rights countries, such as France and Germany, and may serve as examples for the United States.

Updated 11.10.2011