IPA statement for general use ;-)

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
May 29, 2007

Very interesting and useful information, Pharos!

Thank you...

This does sound like what I am looking for... related to the general  
SignWriting and Movement Writing system. I am looking forward to  
writing a personal letter to our web visitors stating that  
SignWriting in general is free to use...and this paragraph below  
could be a part of that statement.

Then the ISWA as PNGs, or SVG, could be under the OFL...

smile...

Thanks for your input...

Val ;-)


-----------




On May 29, 2007, at 1:08 PM, Pharos wrote:

> I've tried to research similar situations where the legal issues of a
> whole writing system are dealt with, and the most analogous one I
> could find was for the International Phonetic Alphabet.  The IPA is
> updated every few years, so the newer symbols anyway are still under
> copyright.
>
> I found an official-sounding copyright statement at the website of the
> Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria, British
> Columbia.
>
> http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts.htm
>
> The International Phonetic Association permits (with no limitations or
> licensing restrictions and at no charge in the form of a license fee
> or royalties) third parties to use (copy, publicly display, publicly
> perform, publish/distribute and create derivative works based thereon)
> the IPA symbols and IPA charts as part of or in products such as books
> and software/hardware as long as the third party acknowledges the
> International Phonetic Association as the copyright owner of the
> International Phonetic Alphabet and the IPA charts.
>
> This sort of simple notice sounds like what you may be looking for.
> Of course copyrights for fonts or computer software is still a
> different issue.
>
> I'm not necessarily recommending this, but I thought you guys should
> be aware of how the IPA has dealt with the issue.
>
> On 5/29/07, Valerie Sutton <signwriting at mac.com> wrote:
>> SignWriting List
>> May 29, 2007
>>
>> On May 28, 2007, at 10:49 PM, GerardM wrote:
>> > It seems obvious to me that with SignWriting seeking more people to
>> > write their sign language, it is relevant to allow people use the
>> > SignWriting characters and fonts, the software  and material as
>> > freely as possible. In this way you grow an ecosystem that will be
>> > of benefit to the whole community. It seems to me that SignWriting
>> > is the best defence that sign languages have. It gains strength in
>> > the number of people able to write and promote their sign language.
>>
>> Sandy, Gerard, Steve, Everyone -
>> I think it is wonderful that Sandy wants to do his software! NO ONE
>> is restricting Sandy or anyone to do their software. Of course it is
>> obvious that everyone must be "allowed" to use SignWriting...in fact
>> I am begging everyone to use SignWriting.
>>
>> PLEASE use SignWriting! There are no restrictions or limitations. I
>> never created any. If someone thinks there are limitations, they are
>> creating them in their own mind....
>>
>> The very purpose of SignWriting is to be used by millions of people
>> free and open, just as the Roman Alphabet is...
>>
>> This idea of licenses is creating as many problems as it is
>> solving...making people feel like some how they will be excluded from
>> the SignWriting family...NEVER. All are welcome.
>>
>> I am worried that someone will feel like a license keeps them from
>> using SignWriting, even when it states that it is open and free. That
>> is why I absolutely must write a personal and encouraging and open
>> letter to the general public, and place it on our web sites, in which
>> I explain in plain English that SignWriting is free for you and
>> everyone to use.
>>
>> So Sandy, I just want to be sure that you know you are welcome to
>> develop your software!
>>
>> OK. Next week I will try to write that open letter to everyone -
>>
>> And I hope everyone will relax about this issue. I am beginning to
>> think that maybe it should be in the Public Domain...how else can we
>> encourage people to use SignWriting? You all assume that I have
>> copyrighted everything...but actually I haven't...but it seems like
>> no one believes me!
>>
>> And I don't want to waste the years I have left to live on the earth,
>> worrying about limitations, when SignWriting is limitless...
>>
>> Val ;-)
>>
>>
>