[Clipart] Posibility of GPL

[Bryce Harrington]

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004, Alan Horkan wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Jun 2004, Ted Gould wrote:
> > On Fri, 2004-06-18 at 05:02, Rob Myers wrote:
> > > I don't think public domain's a good idea because it doesn't grow
> > > value. But I appreciate that any license that would require work
> > > that includes Open Clip Art to be Open would be unusable for
> > > commercial work. Possibly LGPL would be better than GPL, or some
> > > sort of dual licensing.
> >
> > In short, no.  I think that to really understand you have to think of
> > the practical reality of using the artwork.
> 
> I have to agree with Ted.

I'm glad to see us having a good discussion on this.  I too am a big
proponent and advocate of GPL, but the arguments favoring Public Domain
in our particular situation are pretty compelling.

I do feel that artwork that is primarily and principly intended only for
use as part of a piece of software (e.g., content for a game, or icons
for a window manager), it makes sense to have them as L/GPL, however
those cases are a subset of what we're after with clip art.

> When I first joined this list I tried to voice my concerns and suggest
> alternatives to Public Domain because I see the need to build value and
> the danger of others shamelessly exploiting our work without giving
> anything back.
> 
> Artists need materials that are Royalty Free.
> 
> If attribution is required it seems no one has found a way to meet this
> condition in such a way that is not considered an "obnoxious advertising
> clause".  With a clear description of exactly how this requirement could
> be met it might be possible but it would be difficult to work out those
> details.

This is one of the reasons I'm strongly interested in seeing us keep
metadata with (or preferably *in*) the files.  Even if by terms of the
license users don't have to know the attribution, I want to do
everything we can to try to ensure that info is captured and publically
available from our websites, and - so long as it does not impact user's
ability to use the work - also include it in the images.

Bryce