Copyright ODRL Initiative 2004.
This Working Draft describes the semantics of the Creative Commons licenses and how they can be represented using a Profile of the ODRL rights expression language.
This is a public Working Draft of the ODRL Creative Commons Porfile document. It has been produced by the ODRL Creative Commons Profile Working Group. Comments on this document should be sent to editors and discussion of this document takes place on the working group mailing list.
Publication as a Working Draft does not imply endorsement by the ODRL Initiative. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.
The Creative Commons project [CC] has created a number of licenses and semantics for describing usage rights over content. The CC licenses are primarily intended to convey the semantics to the end user of the content. The ODRL is an advanced rights expression language (REL). The objective of this document is to outline a Profile of the ODRL REL that incorporates the semantics and licenses from CC. This will then enable those who require more advanced REL mechanisms to utilise both the CC license semantics and the ODRL REL features.
The CC Licenses are described by their characteristics, which come in three types:
The CC license characteristics are defined by a series of URIs, which are:
http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution http://web.resource.org/cc/DerivativeWorks http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution http://web.resource.org/cc/ShareAlike http://web.resource.org/cc/SourceCode
There are six formal licenses defined by CC (in version 2.0). These six include various combinations of the above seven terms and conditions. These are, including their unique URIs:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
The CC Permissions and Requirements map directly to ODRL Permissions and Requirements. ODRL already covers the semantics of CC Attribution and the others can be defined in an extension XML schema for ODRL (See Appendix A).
However, in the current ODRL 1.1 model, the concept of CC Prohibitions does not appear. This is because the ODRL model dictates that if a right (permission) does not appear, then it is not allowed. Hence, in an ODRL expression, if Commercial Use was prohibited, then it would simply not be mentioned in the XML code. Conversely, if Commercial Use was explicitly allowed (such as the ODRL Sell permission), then it would appear in the XML code.
There are two ways in which the CC Commercial Use semantics can be represented in ODRL. The first way would be to define Commercial Use in the negative and to make this an ODRL Constraint. For example:
<o-ex:constraint> <cc:NonCommercialUse/> </o-ex:constraint>
The second way would be to utilise the existing ODRL Purpose constraint and define a URI for non-Commercial use. For example:
<o-ex:constraint>
<o-dd:purpose>
<o-ex:context>
<o-dd:uid> http://odrl.net/CC-20/nonCommercialUse </o-dd:uid>
</o-ex:context>
</o-dd:purpose>
</o-ex:constraint>
ED: Note: need to make decision on the above two options.
ED: Todo: describe the need for pre-existing CC/ODRL licenses.
Consider the scenario described on the CC website about Anita and her song Volcano Love. Anita chose the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC license. We can now express that using the ODRL CC Profile, and include additional information about Anita, and links to the content.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<o-ex:rights xmlns:o-ex="1.1/ODRL-EX"
xmlns:o-dd="1.1/ODRL-DD"
xmlns:cc="CC-20">
<o-ex:offer>
<o-ex:asset>
<o-ex:context>
<o-dd:uid> urn:anita-music:songs:volcanoLove.mp3 </o-dd:uid>
</o-ex:context>
</o-ex:asset>
<o-ex:permission>
<cc:Reproduction/>
<cc:Distribution/>
<cc:DerivativeWorks/>
</o-ex:permission>
<o-ex:constraint>
<cc:NonCommercialUse/>
</o-ex:constraint>
<o-ex:requirement>
<o-dd:attribution/>
<cc:Notice/>
<cc:ShareAlike/>
</o-ex:requirement>
<o-ex:party>
<o-ex:context>
<o-dd:uid> urn:music-people:id-anita-001 </o-dd:uid>
<o-dd:name> Anita Music </o-dd:name>
<o-dd:dLocation> anita@anita-music.biz </o-dd:dLocation>
</o-ex:context>
<o-ex:rightsholder/>
</o-ex:party>
</o-ex:offer>
</o-ex:rights>
Extending the above example, lets say that Anita wants to make two additions. Firstly she wants to limit the Distribution permission to the USA only. Secondly, she wants to make clear the exact text that should be used for the Attribution requirement. In this case, the above example would be modified with the following two updated elements.
<cc:Distribution>
<o-ex:constraint>
<o-dd:spatial>
<o-ex:context>
<o-dd:uid> urn:iso3166:US </o-dd:uid>
</o-ex:context>
</o-dd:spatial>
</o-ex:constraint>
</cc:Distribution>
<o-dd:attribution>
<o-ex:context>
<o-dd:remark> This work created by Anita Music with lyrics by
Mary Music and sound by Jacky Music. </o-dd:remark>
</o-ex:context>
</o-dd:attribution>
[CC] Creative Commons Project <http://creativecommons.org/>
The Creative Commons Profile data dictionary XML Schema (not yet complete):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsd:schema targetNamespace="CC-20"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:o-ex="1.1/ODRL-EX"
xmlns:cc="CC-20"
elementFormDefault="qualified" attributeFormDefault="qualified">
<xsd:import namespace="1.1/ODRL-EX"
schemaLocation="1.1/ODRL-EX-11.xsd"/>
<xsd:element name="Reproduction" type="o-ex:permissionType"
substitutionGroup="o-ex:permissionElement"/>
<xsd:element name="Distribution" type="o-ex:permissionType"
substitutionGroup="o-ex:permissionElement"/>
<xsd:element name="DerivativeWorks" type="o-ex:permissionType"
substitutionGroup="o-ex:permissionElement"/>
<xsd:element name="NonCommercialUse" type="o-ex:constraintType"
substitutionGroup="o-ex:constraintElement"/>
<xsd:element name="Notice" type="o-ex:requirementType"
substitutionGroup="o-ex:requirementElement"/>
<xsd:element name="ShareAlike" type="o-ex:requirementType"
substitutionGroup="o-ex:requirementElement"/>
<xsd:element name="SourceCode" type="o-ex:requirementType"
substitutionGroup="o-ex:requirementElement"/>
</xsd:schema>