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Creative Commons License

It seems hypocritical that I show my support for open source development on the internet and then stamp an all rights reserved warning on SG Watch. Although I had the same warning on my old website, I’ve used the copyright © symbol for completely different reasons.

When I first created Fanaticism, I just felt that it looked cool to have the copyright © symbol displayed on the website without giving much thought to the legal implications. But as time goes by and I started to learn more about copyright laws — especially after all those RIAA lawsuits against illegal music swappers — I began to understand the significance of displaying the copyright © symbol on my website.

(Note that when you create a work, it’s automatically protected by full copyright — whether you file for protection or not; whether you display the copyright © symbol or not.)

Like most people, I’m more than happy to share my photos and works with others if they were to give me credit; but under the copyright laws, it’s considered a copyright infringement to publish my works — that include those cute pictures of Dinga — on your own website without obtaining my explicit permission to do so. Since I have no intention of suing anyone for reproducing my works in good faith — I can’t afford the exorbitant legal fees anyway — and I know it can be quite a hassle to ask for permission every time, I could’ve easily put up a no rights reserved announcement on SG Watch.

However, I don’t want unscrupulous businessmen making money off my good intentions or have altered pictures of me circulating the internet as a joke; hence the copyright © symbol. If you’re facing the same dilemma as I do, Creative Commons can help.

Creative Commons has released a set of copyright licenses free for public use that helps people dedicate their creative works to the public domain — or retain their copyright while licensing them as free for certain uses, on certain conditions. The conditions include:

  • Attribution
    You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give you credit.

  • Non-commercial
    You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for non-commercial purposes only.

  • No Derivative Works
    You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

  • Share Alike
    You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

The conditions can be mixed and matched to suit your needs. You can also learn more about Creative Commons by watching its introductory movie Get Creative, a 5-minute long Flash presentation that covers why Creative Commons was formed, what it does, and how it does it.

The copyright © symbol is staying while I decide which CC license is more suitable for me. For now, if you want to use my works but are unsure whether I’ll track you down with a machete in hand, please contact me.

01 April 2004 · Web

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