The Coopyright of La Coop des Communs

Version 1.1 of 26/12/2017

Author : “La Coop des Communs”

Contact : coopyright@coopdescommuns.org

Discuss it : https://forum.lescommuns.org/t/coopyright/912

Preamble

The purpose of this policy is to define the principles which apply within the “La Coop des Communs” association for the management of rights on the works of its members, in particular within the framework of the activities of its work-groups.

This policy has several objectives which serve as a guide for the interpretation of the provisions of this document:

• the desire to distribute the works of La Coop des Communs as widely as possible;
• the recognition of the contributions made by members of La Coop des Communs;
• a spirit of reciprocity, both among the members of La Coop des Communs and towards external persons and institutions;
• the intention to consider the association’s works as collectively managed Commons;
• the concern to guarantee the sustainability of non-profit or limited-profit organisations and, in particular, that of members of La Coop des Communs;

This policy is an integral part of the association’s internal regulations. It can be modified on proposal of the association’s Board and after approval by the General Assembly of the members.

Becoming a member of La Coop des Communs requires the consent to these principles.

The association’s Board guarantees the application and adherence of this policy.

1. Charter of the work-groups’ works

Works of the work-groups include all the contents developed within this framework which are likely to be protected by an intellectual property right, regardless of their kind: texts, models, documents, management tools, etc. (except software, see point 9).

Each work-group chooses freely, according to the decision-making procedures it has adopted, whether and how its work should be published.

Each work-group chooses to publish its work:

• either as individual works (signed by a single author);
• either as collaborative works (from several identified co-authors);
• or as collective works (attributed to the group itself as an entity);

2. Default license of the work-groups’ works

By default and on publication, the works of the work-groups are licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivatives) [1].

This licence applies when their work is reused by people or entities who do not have the status of an “active contributor of La Coop des Communs” (see point 7).

In exceptional cases, the work-groups may request to place their works under a different license than the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0, provided that special circumstances give justification and the Board of La Coop des Communs approves this.

3. Attribution of the work-groups’ works

The attribution of works (recognition of authorship) is based on the Charter, adopted by the work-groups (see point 1):

• for individual or collaborative works: mention to the name of the author(s);
• for collective works: mention to the name of the work-group.

In all cases, the name of the author(s) is (are) followed by the reference: Document created within the framework of the association “La Coop des Communs”. If possible, also a logo of La Coop des Communs is required to be displayed.

4. Reuse of the work-groups’ works involving modifications

According to the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, modification of work-group works – namely all forms of adaptation and work of derivative works, including translations – requires prior authorization.

For individual works and collaborative works, this authorization is granted by the members, who are referred to by the working groups as authors or co-authors of the works.

For collective works, this authorization shall be granted by the group in accordance with the decision-making procedures it has chosen.

5. Reuse of the work-groups’ works involving commercial use

Under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, commercial use of work-group works requires prior permission.

For individual works and collaborative works, this permission is granted by the members, who are referred to by the groups as authors or co-authors of the works.

For collective works, this approval shall be granted by the group in accordance with its chosen decision-making procedures.

In the case of commercial use, the association may, in agreement with the author(s) of the contents, charge a fee to the resellers.

For this case, a fee guide may be adopted by the association. For all cases not provided for by this scheme, the amount of the charge is determined by the Board of the association, in consultation with the members of the work-group concerned.

The sums collected for commercial reuse are deposited in the budget of the association and used to finance its activities.

6. Exemption from fees in the case of reuse by a non-profit or limited-profit entity

Commercial reuses by persons or entities engaged in a non-profit or limited-profit activity are exempted from prior authorization and from the payment of fees, as specified in point 5. In this case reuse is done according to the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 (Attribution – Share Alike).

The assessment of the non-profit or limited-profit purpose of the entity is based on the criteria set by the national law governing the reuser .

Non-profit or limited-profit entities reusing  works of La Coop des Communs are kindly requested to inform the association in case of reuse.

7. Reuse of works by “active contributors of La Coop des Communs”

The status of “active contributor of La Coop des Communs” is achieved by a combination of the following two conditions:

• being a member of the association “La Coop des Communs” and being up to date with your dues (in the sense of membership fees);
• actively participating in one or more work-groups of the association.

Each year, the work-groups send a list of their active members to the Board of the association, so that the active contributors of La Coop des Communs can be  identified.

For members who are active contributors of La Coop des Communs, reuse of any work-groups‘ works is subject to the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 (Attribution – Share Alike) [2].

In case of use that involves republication, members who are active contributors of La Coop des Communs agree to use the following licences:

• if the work of  La Coop des Communs is republished identically and unchanged, it must be licenced under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0;
• if a derivative is produced and published from a La Coop des Communs work, it must be licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

8. Works by La Coop des Communs not emanating from the work-groups

Works of La Coop des Communs which do not emanate from their work-groups are, as far as possible, subject to the principles of this reuse policy, regardless of their kind.

When works by La Coop des Communs are subject to both the rights of the association (especially the neighbouring rights to recordings) as well as the rights of its members , they are by default made available to third parties under licence CC-BY-ND 4.0 and can be reused by active contributors under the licence CC-BY-SA 4.0.

When content emanates from people outside the association, but is produced within the framework of events or activities organized by the association, the Board of La Coop des Communs will make its best effort to obtain the necessary authorizations from the respective persons so that the content can be distributed in accordance with the principles of this policy.

9. The special case of software

Creative Commons licenses are not suitable for publishing software.

Each work-group therefore chooses the license(s) under which it wishes to distribute the software produced as part of its activity, in agreement with the association’s Board.

These licenses will be chosen in accordance with the objectives of this policy, as set out in the preamble.

If necessary, the same principles apply for all types of works for which Creative Commons licenses are not appropriate.

10. Application of this reuse policy

The members of the association commit themselves to respect and apply this reuse policy in a spirit of good and mutual understanding, making every effort to reach consensus.

In the event of disagreements within a work-group on the application of this policy, the members agree to report the matter to the Board of the association, which will propose a solution in a spirit of conciliation, if necessary by involving other members of the association.

[1] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en
[2] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

The text is available for modification proposals at https://gitlab.com/Coopdescommuns/Code_source/blob/master/coopyright.md

This text was translated from French in August 2018 by Nikolas Kichler.