Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution.
A software license is a legal instrument (usually by way of contract law, with or without printed material) governing the use or redistribution of software
I have an issue. The best way to explain it is through a Use Case.
Imagine you made a library of svg icons using other peoples images. You want users to be able to browse and drag-n-drop ONLY icons they want (i.e. a plugin containing them all is inappropriate).
<svg class="tc-image-delete-button tc-image-button" viewBox="0 0 128 128" width="22pt" height="22pt">
<g fill-rule="evenodd" transform="translate(12.000000, 0.000000)">
<rect x="0" y="11" width="105" height="16" rx="8"></rect>
...
</g>
</svg>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<svg xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 128 128" height="22pt" width="22pt" version="1.1" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" class="tc-image-delete-button tc-image-button">
<metadata>
<rdf:RDF>
<cc:Work rdf:about="">
<cc:license rdf:resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"/>
</cc:Work>
</rdf:RDF>
</metadata>
<g transform="translate(12)" fill-rule="evenodd">
<rect rx="8" height="16" width="105" y="11" x="0"/>
...
</g>
</svg>
You are also missing one point that by declaring a copyright that gives ALL rights you are also declaring a copyright that has to be replicated, even if ALL rights are given. If that is what you want then "This is NOT copyright" is the way to go :-)
"The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law"
I find the idea appealing to include a field "license" and maybe a field "copyright" with my name/website. The information in these fields should be visible in the SVG tiddler without any additional macro or copyright tiddlers in view mode – but invisible when it is used/transcluded in my plugin interface.
I think Thomas makes the killer point ...I find the idea appealing to include a field "license" and maybe a field "copyright" with my name/website. The information in these fields should be visible in the SVG tiddler without any additional macro or copyright tiddlers in view mode – but invisible when it is used/transcluded in my plugin interface.
Burying copyright inside the SVG seems to me coping strategy, not fairness. I think it would be far better to have an EXPLICIT, visible, link. Yes, SVG supports a copyright string, but I think in TW we can have a more universal approach too that can apply globally on license/copyright issues.
The one part of my original question that hasn't got answer is IF its possible, at the moment, to move a tiddler such that in a new TW with a "copyright" or "license" field could be forced to show. That would be important.
Regarding it being a "management nightmare" to go this way I can't see the issue. To me its seems minimalist & workable & pretty fair.
Best wishes
Josiah
Playing devils advoate here: It seams to me it would get very annoying if I'm transcluding a bunch of different SVG tiddlers into my own tiddler and they all have separate copyright and license notices. The copyrights and licenses may end up taking up more space than the images.
If you click on an image you see author (, publisher) and license immediately without having to open the image (jpg, png, wathever) in a special software or in source code view:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apricot_Portable#/media/File%3AApricot_portable.png
I think this is how license and copyright owner should be presented.
The one part of my original question that hasn't got answer is IF its possible, at the moment, to move a tiddler such that in a new TW with a "copyright" or "license" field could be forced to show. That would be important.
Playing devils advoate here: It seams to me it would get very annoying if I'm transcluding a bunch of different SVG tiddlers into my own tiddler and they all have separate copyright and license notices. The copyrights and licenses may end up taking up more space than the images.
Part of my issue, I think, has been discussion that makes it like WE need to solve the issue. We do NOT need to solve the issue. Its already solved 9.6 times out of ten. Its much more about linkage than anything, I think.