[K12OSN] advice needed re: GPL, creative commons etc

[Tom Hoffman]

On 8/28/06, john <lists.john at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> One of the programs at our School District has worked with a developer to
> create an online database using FileMaker Pro. The database is an online
> tool used to track portfolios for independent study students and match them
> against state ELARS. We'd like to share this database with others by making
> it available for download on our website. Folks who used it would also need
> to have a copy of FileMaker Pro. My question is can we release the database
> under the GPL or Creative Commons without violating the terms of the FMP
> license? Or should we just throw it out there as "freeware"?

It doesn't seem like you have much to gain in this point by trying to
apply a free software or Creative Commons license to the work,
compared to just releasing it as vague "freeware."  That is, I don't
imagine you'd be too worried that someone else is going to integrate
it into their commercial FileMaker distribution, or something like
that, which you might control with the GPL or CC license.

I am not a lawyer, but I do know that you are making specific claims
about your work when you use either of those licenses, which are more
involved than they might seem on the surface, and if you simply want
to make this stuff available without worrying about it, I'd take a
naive approach and just stick this stuff up in the public domain.

Just to be clear, I think it is fairly likely that you could release
this under a free software license or CC license, but I think that may
be unnecessarily complicating the situation.

And in the future, you should use a free software web stack like Ruby
On Rails or Django to do this kind of thing, and then releasing your
work under a free software license is more straightforward.  ;-)

--Tom