[Freepats] University of Iowa samples

[Mark Constable]

On Friday 28 April 2006 19:02, Roberto Gordo Saez wrote:
> I think he want the samples to be used without restriction, so I can
> write him again to explain why would be useful for us to have formal
> copyright conditions (or a clear PD notice). I think he will
> understand our position.

I get the feeling they are "free for any use" but because that
is not specifically stated anywhere it actually makes them far
less "free" than they could be with a license of some sort.

> It is probably a good idea to provide them some advice on this area.
> For example, we can guess that they want a simple permissive license,
> so we can send to Lawrence Fritts some kind of BSD/X11 distribution
> notice and suggest him to use it with the samples instead of ambiguous
> notices. The Public Domain Dedication by Creative Commons is other
> possibility, in case the samples are really PD. Do you think it is OK
> to ask this?

Most certainly. I'm sure it would be helpful to simply point out
that no license is actually restrictive and both the license
options you have suggested would would make it clear for folks
in the future to know what they can and can't do with them.

Perhaps lean towards insisting that, at the very minimum, the
words "these sample are in the Public Domain" be added somewhere
to a covering webpage. These TMUE samples could be around for
decades.

> Yes, licenses for audio and other artworks are now a common problem.
> Some time ago few people cared about licenses on their software, and
> distributed under "freeware" or without copyright notices at all.
> Situation changed, mainly thanks to RMS and GPL popularity, now most
> people do care to choose a clear (and free) license for their
> software.

Maybe in 2076 "they" will reverse the 1976(?) decision and revert
to everything automatically being in the Public Domain except where
explicitly copyrighted. I was absolutely shocked about 10 years ago
when I found out the law had been changed and everything was
automatically copyrighted by default. I couldn't believe anyone
or thing could be so stupid to mandate something so illogical.

I was in denial for years, refused to accept it, but I finally
got around to grudgingly accept that copyleft is here to stay,
because that stupid US copyright law is not going away, and in
fact there are forces at work to make it even more illogical
and extend even further.. from the life of the creator plus
however many years... to forever!

I'm sure the great-great-grand-children of Walt Disney will
want to bleed Mickey Mouse for another century or so. Bah!

> I'm also busy this month, so I prefer to take a break in legal issues
> and give more time to search for some samples, instead for copyright
> headaches. If you agree, I will search (and ask authors) for samples
> under any free license, BSD (new version), the GPL (with exception
> preferred), or other GPL-compatible free licenses.

Yes certainly. My personal preference, when I apply some effort
to a project, is for GPL (copyleft) but I have no problem with
you or anyone else abiding by any open source license and ethic.
You should have FTP upload access to the freepats area so feel
free to do whatever you consider is appropriate, create folders,
edit files and upload material etc.

--markc