I just got the following message from the OpenCourseWare people here at MIT. They want to use a piece of writing of mine. I already submitted a modified version of the introduction to this document to Wikipedia. It looks like what they're asking should be ok (it says they want a "non-exclusive" right to it) but I thought I should double check with people here.
moink
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 13:11:36 -0500 From: Brett Paci bpaci@MIT.EDU To: robinst@mit.edu Subject: 16.885J Permission Request from MIT OpenCourseWare
Theresa Robinson Massachusetts Institute of Technology robinst@mit.edu
Dear Publisher,
On behalf of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) OpenCourseWare program (“OCW”), I am writing to ask your permission to use the material (“Material”) listed below, which we believe is owned by you.
MIT OCW is a Web-based electronic publishing initiative funded jointly by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and MIT and is described at http://ocw.mit.edu/. Its goals include (i) providing free, searchable, coherent access to MIT's course materials for educators in the non-profit sector, students, and individual learners around the world, and (ii) creating an efficient, standards-based model that other universities may emulate to publish their own course materials.
MIT is making this request in connection with Earll Murman’s course entitled, 16.885J Aircraft Systems Engineering, which will be published on MIT’s OCW. Specifically, MIT is requesting your permission for a perpetual, royalty free, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, distribute, copy, translate and permit others to use, reproduce, distribute, copy, or translate in electronic format or in or by any other media now known or hereafter developed, the Material.
If you would be willing to grant this permission, could you or an authorized officer of your organization please sign the attached license and return it to my attention. We would be grateful for a response by: 3/26/2004.
If you have any questions please contact me directly at 617-253-7913.
Sincerely,
Geoffery Wilson
Please use reference numbers listed in all correspondence. Permission is requested for the following:
Entire document Citation X: A Case Study Ref #: 1213-5517-9194-6378
Robinson Robinson's biography Ref. # 1213-5517-9197-6384
Request #: OCW000001110
Yeah, you wrote it, and you released it under GFDL, but you can also release to anyone else under any other license that you like. That's because you wrote it and you own the copyright.
You couldn't give permission, obviously, for work done by others and released under the GNU FDL.
I think that some GNU-advocates would recommend that you refuse the permission they ask for, and instead tell them to license it under the FDL, in order to increase the net amount of GNU-yumminess in the world. As for me, it would depend on the context and so on as to whether I would want to do that.
Theresa Robinson wrote:
I just got the following message from the OpenCourseWare people here at MIT. They want to use a piece of writing of mine. I already submitted a modified version of the introduction to this document to Wikipedia. It looks like what they're asking should be ok (it says they want a "non-exclusive" right to it) but I thought I should double check with people here.
moink
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 13:11:36 -0500 From: Brett Paci bpaci@MIT.EDU To: robinst@mit.edu Subject: 16.885J Permission Request from MIT OpenCourseWare
Theresa Robinson Massachusetts Institute of Technology robinst@mit.edu
Dear Publisher,
On behalf of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) OpenCourseWare program (?OCW?), I am writing to ask your permission to use the material (?Material?) listed below, which we believe is owned by you.
MIT OCW is a Web-based electronic publishing initiative funded jointly by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and MIT and is described at http://ocw.mit.edu/. Its goals include (i) providing free, searchable, coherent access to MIT's course materials for educators in the non-profit sector, students, and individual learners around the world, and (ii) creating an efficient, standards-based model that other universities may emulate to publish their own course materials.
MIT is making this request in connection with Earll Murman?s course entitled, 16.885J Aircraft Systems Engineering, which will be published on MIT?s OCW. Specifically, MIT is requesting your permission for a perpetual, royalty free, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, distribute, copy, translate and permit others to use, reproduce, distribute, copy, or translate in electronic format or in or by any other media now known or hereafter developed, the Material.
If you would be willing to grant this permission, could you or an authorized officer of your organization please sign the attached license and return it to my attention. We would be grateful for a response by: 3/26/2004.
If you have any questions please contact me directly at 617-253-7913.
Sincerely,
Geoffery Wilson
Please use reference numbers listed in all correspondence. Permission is requested for the following:
Entire document Citation X: A Case Study Ref #: 1213-5517-9194-6378
Robinson Robinson's biography Ref. # 1213-5517-9197-6384
Request #: OCW000001110 _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
I think that some GNU-advocates would recommend that you refuse the permission they ask for, and instead tell them to license it under the FDL, in order to increase the net amount of GNU-yumminess in the world. As for me, it would depend on the context and so on as to whether I would want to do that.
Thanks Jimmy. I don't think I'm going to insist that they release it under GFDL. The main reason is that the document (not the Wikipedia article) contains copyrighted images owned by Cessna and Jane's, and one nice thing about OpenCourseWare is that they do all the running around to get permission to use those.
moink