[WikiEN-l] Escaping the GDFL -- can it be done?

[Andrew Gray]

On 02/03/06, Fastfission <fastfission at gmail.com> wrote:

> Based on this principle: can one really ask users to
> re-(multi)-license their PAST contributions? That is, can I say, "All
> those contributions I said were under the GFDL? Well, now I want them
> to also be GFDL or CC-BY-SA." Legally, I'm suspicious, but I'm also
> not a lawyer.

It seems acceptable to me.

I make an edit to a page. This edit is utterly and irrevocably
copyrighted by me (assume, for now, that it's a nontrivial edit).
However, I also implicitly release that edit under the GFDL.

I am, however, completely at liberty to reuse that edit *outside* the
terms of the GFDL, since I personally own the copyright; this would
include, for example, deeming it to be licensed under a different
license *so long as I did not revoke the GFDL*. The GFDL is a license,
not an abdication of copyright.

Does that make sense? Consider a non-commercial CC license - it
doesn't mean the copyright holder can't make money off it, it just
means that no-one *else* can.

--
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk