All the briefings that I have written are © copyrighted by me. Why? Isn’t copyright evil and restrictive?!
Well, yes, copyright is normally used to restrict other people’s rights to use, copy or distribute material. It is used to put a proprietary claim on some intellectual property, in an effort (usually) to make money out of it.
The difference with these briefings is that the copyright is being used to guarantee the freedom of the briefings from such proprietary or commercial interests. Sounds unlikely perhaps, but the clue is in the licence that the briefings are distributed under. . . .
By copyrighting the briefings, I am able to impose conditions on their use or distribution. The conditions are in the attached licence statement, which is known as the “GNU Free Documentation Licence.”[note] This licence allows unfettered (‘free’) use of the briefings. You can copy them, distribute them, print them by the hundred. You can even sell them on (if anyone will buy them from you!), or modify them and pass on the modified versions. You could even write a big fat legal textbook, incorporate my briefings into it, and sell the whole thing. This is what is meant by ‘freedom’.[note]
Is there a catch? Of course there is! The licence allows complete freedom to copy, distribute, use, sell or modify the briefings, on condition that you pass them on, or any modified versions, under the same licence statement. I.E. You can modify the briefings, put a glossy cover on them, and then sell the result. But you cannot then impose a more restrictive licence statement on them: the buyers of your book must be equally free to copy, distribute, modify, re-copy etc. There are also some conditions about recording your changes (so that I don’t get the blame for them, and so that everyone who deserves to gets the credit).
This sort of copyright is often known as “copyleft.” There is more about it (focussing on its use in developing free software), at the Free Software Foundation’s web page, http://www.uk.gnu.org/copyleft/.
For more details, see the full licence statement.