Liability issues for OER software
I’ve recently been comparing the Creative Commons licenses with the GNU license, used for open source software such as Linux, Open Office etc. The issue of liability is not present in the creative commons license - potentially this means that if OER software damaged an end users computer in any way, then the provider of the software could be liable for damage. The GNU license found at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html specifically addresses this issue in section 16:
16. Limitation of Liability.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.It seems that creative commons licenses are fine for simple webpages, moodle sites etc. But the above issue is certainly worth considering for any executable computer code. The basics of GNU licesnes are the same as that of creative commons - an ability to use, distribute and modify work is implicit.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Hi Rick, thanks for bringing this up. It’s been discussed at a number of IPR events and the limitations of the CC licences have been noted, and as you rightly suggest the GNU license will be more suitable.
I have mentioned this in my blog, but looking back it’s fairly well buried.
I’m assuming the new JorumOpen interface will allow this as an option but I’ll double-check.
Chris.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
[…] 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment Rick Stafford has a new post comparing Creative Commons to the GNU license. Stafford notes software licensed […]