[CivicAccess-discuss] Open-Data Motion for Montreal

[Glen Newton]

On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 7:04 PM, Jonathan Brun <jbrun at jonathanbrun.com> wrote:
> License-free Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret
> regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed

> c. That the data offered on the index are unlicensed, allowing for free re-use by
> third parties, in a prevailing open standard format, and not copyrighted except
> if otherwise prevented by legal considerations.

Jonathan,

In Canada, there is no legal concept 'Public Domain'.
And I believe that you cannot remove the copyright from something,
even if you own it (but you can transfer it).
You can state (i.e. license) that you allow all and any uses by all
and any persons, for _most_ intents and purposes making it very Public
Domain-like.
But I believe the copyright remains.

For example, there has been some mention in this group of how Surrey,
BC is taking the lead with how open its data release is (I agree that
Surrey is in the lead and is where all Canadian cities should be).
However, in this forum Sam Vekemans 2010.11.16 said: "...to "Open
Data"  meaning truly useful content, where no restrictions are in
place.   (ie.  Surrey, BC making their data Public Domain)". While I
completely agree with his sentiment, technically (amd legally) Surrey
did not put its data into the 'Public Domain', nor did they relinquish
copyright. Instead, they adopted a license (Public Domain Dedication
and License v1.0 http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/1.0/ )
that allows almost unlimited use, by anyone, of the data Surrey is
releasing under this license.

>From the license: "...this waiver and licence tries to the fullest
extent possible to eliminate or fully license any rights that cover
this database and data."

So there is a license, and copyright is retained.

This license recognizes that some jurisdictions do not have 'Public
Domain' and has a clause to take this into account:

"3.2 Waiver of rights and claims in Copyright and Database Rights when
Section 3.1 dedication inapplicable. If the dedication in Section 3.1
does not apply in the relevant jurisdiction under Section 6.4, the
Rightsholder waives any rights and claims that the Rightsholder may
have or acquire in the future over the Work in:
a. Copyright; and
b. Database Rights.
To the extent possible in the relevant jurisdiction, the above waiver
of rights and claims applies worldwide and includes media and formats
now known or created in the future. The Rightsholder agrees not to
assert the above rights and waives the right to enforce them over the
Work."

So the Rightsholder still has these rights, but promises not to assert
or enforce them. Again, still a license, and no 'removal' of copyright
takes place.

My suggestion to replace the clauses in Jonathan's text either by
adopting some broad language talking about using a liberal,
non-exclusive, non-restrictive license (possibly with examples) or go
straight to suggesting the PDDL.

I am sure the city of Montreal lawyers will not like to have a clause
that asks the city to do something that is not legally possible in
Canada. :-)

Thanks,
Glen :-)

On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 7:04 PM, Jonathan Brun <jbrun at jonathanbrun.com> wrote:
> Bonjour à tous,
> Montreal Ouvert is working to produce an "ideal" motion for open-data in the
> city of Montreal. The motion is inspired by the great initiatives in
> Vancouver and Ottawa. We would very much appreciate your comments,
> alternative wording and other advice, especially around your respective
> areas of expertise.
> This version remains a rough copy.
> The document is presently in English to facilitate commenting by various
> parties across Canada, it will be circulated on Civic Access for a second
> round of comments and then translated in French.
> Deadline for 1st round of comments: Sunday, January 16th, 2010 at 11PM EST
> Please be sure to sign with your name.
> Warm regards,
> Jean-Noé, Jonathan, Michael, & Sebastien
> MontrealOuvert.net
> Motion pour les données ouvertes à la Ville de Montréal
> Here we have a medium-lenth "WHEREAS Montreal has mandated X, Y, Z,...", but
> we are really looking for comments on the following:
> AND WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF OPEN DATA BEING THE FOLLOWING;
> To guide City staff in determining what and how data is released, the
> following principles of Open Data provide good guidelines and are
> recommended by Montréal Ouvert.  Originally created in 2007 through a
> workshop of concerned organizations, many jurisdictions have used them to
> guide their Open Data initiatives:
> Complete All public data is made available. Public data is data that is not
> subject to legal or otherwise valid privacy, security or privilege
> limitations.
> Primary Data is as collected at the source, with the highest possible level
> of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.
> Timely Data is made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value
> of the data.
> Accessible Data is available to the widest range of users for the widest
> range of purposes.
> Machine processable Data is reasonably structured to allow automated
> processing.
> Non-discriminatory Data is available to anyone, with no requirement of
> registration.
> Non-proprietary Data is available in a format over which no entity has
> exclusive control.
> License-free Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or
> trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege
> restrictions may be allowed.”
> (Source: http://resource.org/8_principles.html)
>
> La ville de Montréal "endorses the following":
> a. That city data produced and collected by the City of Montreal is declared
> "open"
> Open and Accessible Data - the City of Montreal will freely share with
> citizens, businesses and other jurisdictions the greatest amount of data
> possible while respecting privacy and security concerns;
> Open Standards - the City of Montreal will move as quickly as possible to
> adopt prevailing open standards for data, documents, maps, and other formats
> of media;
> b. That the city puts in place an index of all open datasets in machine
> readable formats.
> c. That the data offered on the index are unlicensed, allowing for free
> re-use by third parties, in a prevailing open standard format, and not
> copyrighted except if otherwise prevented by legal considerations.
>
> BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED THAT the XXX be tasked with developing an action plan
> for implementation of the above.
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