License question

[Cayenne]

I've used the KanjiVG SVGs to create sets where I've added color, changed the size, and modified the filename to include the character.  I plan to make them available on the web.  What should the license part say?  I've been trying to read about CC licensing, but I'm afraid I'm not entirely clear on exactly how it all works.  Is this a derivative work that should then be copyright me, offered under the same license, with attribution to you and your website?  Or does derivative work mean something with substantial changes, in which case I could just leave the license text as it is and add a note about the changes I've made?

Thanks so much for creating these and licensing them so that I could do this.

- Cayenne

[Alexandre Courbot]

Hi,

On Mar 20, 2012 11:36 AM, "Cayenne" <caye...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've used the KanjiVG SVGs to create sets where I've added color, changed the size, and modified the filename to include the character.  I plan to make them available on the web.  What should the license part say?  I've been trying to read about CC licensing, but I'm afraid I'm not entirely clear on exactly how it all works.  Is this a derivative work that should then be copyright me, offered under the same license, with attribution to you and your website?

This understanding is correct.

It seems that the changes you have done could be done automatically by a script though - could you explain what you are trying to achieve?

Alex.
 

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[Cayenne]

Thanks.

I did make the changes with a script and I'm going share the results with people who aren't set up for running scripts.  They're for dropping into an anki deck to provide stroke order diagrams.

[karl rosvold]

That sounds nice. Soooo many people use Anki to study Japanese. I may
have missed it, but will you post a link to your finished product to
this mailing list when you are finished?

Karl

[Cayenne]

Sure, I'll post a link.  It will probably be a blog post in a week or so (there are some other things I'll be writing about that I want to get sorted out first, and I'm just a contributor to the blog in question so I don't schedule things.)

Also I intend share the script as well, but I'm not sure when.  I want to clean it up and preferably add some more options to it as well.  It's my first python script and I write comments that I don't ever intend anyone else to see...

[Cayenne]

On Tuesday, March 20, 2012 12:08:42 AM UTC-4, Cayenne wrote:

Also I intend share the script as well, but I'm not sure when.  I want to clean it up and preferably add some more options to it as well.

 

Which leads to another question...  suppose someone downloads my script and generates diagrams with a different color scheme and shares those.  I'm thinking that my script would count as an editor and they would need to copyright that version themselves; the script can take their name/other stuff they want to say in the copyright as an option and if this isn't provided it would add a note saying that it had been modified and if they are to be distributed the copyright information needs to be updated by running the script with the proper options.  Does this sound right?

[Alexandre Courbot]

> I did make the changes with a script and I'm going share the results with people who aren't set up for running scripts.  They're for dropping into an anki deck to provide stroke order diagrams.

Sounds like a great idea!

> Which leads to another question...  suppose someone downloads my script and generates diagrams with a different color scheme and shares those.  I'm thinking that my script would count as an editor and they would need to copyright that version themselves; the script can take their name/other stuff they want to say in the copyright as an option and if this isn't provided it would add a note saying that it had been modified and if they are to be distributed the copyright information needs to be updated by running the script with the proper options.  Does this sound right?

Well, considering all modifications to the data will be done by the script (at first I thought it was more "manual" work), I'd suggest putting copyright in this way:
* The script is (c) You and released under whatever licence you like ;
* The SVG (or whatever else) files that are generated keep their original KanjiVG header with an additional note that says something like "modified by FooScript, (c) You"
* Any person who changes and redistribute your script could (that depends on the licence you choose, I assume CC-attribution here) do the same and just add their name at the end of the script header if their change is significant. But it will be more likely that they will contribute the changes back to you and give up copyright - in that case it is customary to credit them yourself in the header or in a CREDIT.txt file or so. Best thing for short contributions: host your script on Github and integrate the contributed patches as they come, that way every piece of code can be associated to its author.

As for the example you took (different color scheme) that would probably be as simple as changing a couple of variables, so you can pretty safely assume that people will not go through the hassle of forking your script just for that. :)

Don't forget to keep up-to-date with KanjiVG since we are releasing fixes from time to time. You may want to keep your script simple to run.

Please send us a link when you release it, we will refer it on the "Projects using KanjiVG" page.

Alex.

[msk...@ansuz.sooke.bc.ca]

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012, Alexandre Courbot wrote:
> copyright that version themselves; the script can take their name/other
> stuff they want to say in the copyright as an option and if this isn't
> provided it would add a note saying that it had been modified and if they
> are to be distributed the copyright information needs to be updated by
> running the script with the proper options. Does this sound right?

For what it's worth, I face a similar issue in IDSgrep, where the build
scripts generate an IDSgrep-formatted dictionary based on KanjiVG's XML.
The scripts copy the copyright notice from the XML file through to the
output, and add before it a note identifying the script that generated
the file and saying "Copyright notice below is from the input XML file." I
don't actually add a copyright notice of my own to the output file; I'm
not sure that to do so would be appropriate given that there's little or no
creative content of mine in the output file. Just as the writer of a
compiler usually doesn't, and certainly shouldn't, claim copyright on all
programs compiled with the compiler. My own code and the package that
contains it are GPL3 and have their own notices to that effect, and
(though I don't actually distribute KanjiVG in my package) KanjiVG's
copyright is mentioned in the relevant IDSgrep documentation.
--
Matthew Skala
msk...@ansuz.sooke.bc.ca People before principles.
http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/

[Cayenne]

Thanks (and to Matthew as well.)  It hadn't occurred to me that it mattered how I changed the files, but that all makes sense.