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Definition/Es
Resumen
Este documento define «Obras culturales libres» (Free Cultural Works) como obras o expresiones que pueden ser libremente estudiadas, aplicadas, copiadas y/o modificadas por cualquiera, para cualquier propósito. También describe ciertas restricciones admisibles que respetan o protegen esas libertades esenciales. La definición distingue entre obras libres, y licencias libres que pueden usarse para proteger legalmente el estatus de una obra libre. La propia definición no es una licencia, sino una herramienta para determinar si una obra o licencia debería considerarse «libre».
Preámbulo
Los avances sociales y tecnológicos hacen posible para una cada vez mayor parte de la humanidad acceder, crear, modificar, publicar y distribuir diversos tipos de trabajos —obras de arte, materiales científicos y educativos, software, artículos— en resumen: cualquier cosa que se pueda representar digitalmente. Se han creado muchas comunidades para ejercer estas nuevas posibilidades y crear una riqueza de obras reutilizables colectivamente.
La mayoría de los autores, sin importar su campo de actividad, ni su condición de aficionado o profesional, tienen un auténtico interés por favorecer un ecosistema en el que las obras puedan propagarse, reusarse y derivarse de forma creativa. Cuanto más sencillo es reutilizar y derivar trabajos, más ricas se hacen nuestras culturas.
Para asegurar el feliz funcionamiento de este ecosistema, los trabajos de autoría deberían ser libres, y por libertad entendemos:
- la libertad de usar el trabajo y disfrutar de los beneficios de su uso.
- la libertad de estudiar el trabajo y aplicar el conocimiento adquirido de él.
- la libertad de hacer y redistribuir copias, totales o parciales, de la información o expresión.
- la libertad de hacer cambios y mejoras, y distribuir los trabajos derivados.
Estas libertades deberían estar disponibles para cualquiera, en cualquier sitio, en cualquier momento. No deberían restringirse por el contexto en el cual se use el trabajo. La creatividad es el acto de usar un recurso existente de una forma no vislumbrada previamente.
Sin embargo, en la mayoría de los países estas libertades no están reforzadas, sino suprimidas por las leyes comúnmente denominadas leyes de copyright. Consideran a los autores como dioses creadores y les dan un monopolio exclusivo sobre cómo puede reutilizarse «su contenido». Este monopolio impide el florecimiento de la cultura, y ni siquiera ayuda a la situación económica de sus autores tanto como protege el modelo de negocio de las empresas editoras más poderosas.
A pesar de esas leyes, los autores pueden hacer que sus trabajos sean libres escogiendo entre una vasta colección de documentos legales conocidos como licencias libres. Para un autor, poner su trabajo bajo una licencia libre no supone que pierda todos sus derechos, sino que da a cualquiera las libertades arriba expresadas.
Es importante que toda obra que se diga libre otorgue, en la práctica y sin ningún riesgo, las mencionadas libertades. Ésta es la razón por la que a continuación damos una precisa definición de libertad para licencias y obras de autor.
Identifying Free Cultural Works
This is the Definition of Free Cultural Works, and when describing your work, we encourage you to make reference to this definition, as in, "This is a freely licensed work, as explained in the Definition of Free Cultural Works." If you do not like the term "Free Cultural Work," you can use the generic term "Free Content," or refer instead to one of the existing movements that express similar freedoms in more specific contexts. We also encourage you to use the Free Cultural Works logos and buttons, which are in the public domain.
Please be advised that such identification does not actually confer the rights described in this definition; for your work to be truly free, it must use one of the Free Culture Licenses or be in the public domain.
We discourage you to use other terms to identify Free Cultural Works which do not convey a clear definition of freedom, such as "Open Content" and "Open Access." These terms are often used to refer to content which is available under "less restrictive" terms than those of existing copyright laws, or even for works that are just "available on the Web".
Defining Free Culture Licenses
Licenses are legal instruments through which the owner of certain legal rights may transfer these rights to third parties. Free Culture Licenses do not take any rights away -- they are always optional to accept, and if accepted, they grant freedoms which copyright law alone does not provide. When accepted, they never limit or reduce existing exemptions in copyright laws.
Essential freedoms
In order to be recognized as "free" under this definition, a license must grant the following freedoms without limitation:
- The freedom to use and perform the work: The licensee must be allowed to make any use, private or public, of the work. For kinds of works where it is relevant, this freedom should include all derived uses ("related rights") such as performing or interpreting the work. There must be no exception regarding, for example, political or religious considerations.
- The freedom to study the work and apply the information: The licensee must be allowed to examine the work and to use the knowledge gained from the work in any way. The license may not, for example, restrict "reverse engineering".
- The freedom to redistribute copies: Copies may be sold, swapped or given away for free, as part of a larger work, a collection, or independently. There must be no limit on the amount of information that can be copied. There must also not be any limit on who can copy the information or on where the information can be copied.
- The freedom to distribute derivative works: In order to give everyone the ability to improve upon a work, the license must not limit the freedom to distribute a modified version (or, for physical works, a work somehow derived from the original), regardless of the intent and purpose of such modifications. However, some restrictions may be applied to protect these essential freedoms or the attribution of authors (see below).
Permissible restrictions
Not all restrictions on the use or distribution of works impede essential freedoms. In particular, requirements for attribution, for symmetric collaboration (i.e., "copyleft"), and for the protection of essential freedom are considered permissible restrictions.
Defining Free Cultural Works
In order to be considered free, a work must be covered by a Free Culture License, or its legal status must provide the same essential freedoms enumerated above. It is not, however, a sufficient condition. Indeed, a specific work may be non-free in other ways that restrict the essential freedoms. These are the additional conditions in order for a work to be considered free:
- Availability of source data: Where a final work has been obtained through the compilation or processing of a source file or multiple source files, all underlying source data should be available alongside the work itself under the same conditions. This can be the score of a musical composition, the models used in a 3D scene, the data of a scientific publication, the source code of a computer application, or any other such information.
- Use of a free format: For digital files, the format in which the work is made available should not be protected by patents, unless a world-wide, unlimited and irrevocable royalty-free grant is given to make use of the patented technology. While non-free formats may sometimes be used for practical reasons, a free format copy must be available for the work to be considered free.
- No technical restrictions: The work must be available in a form where no technical measures are used to limit the freedoms enumerated above.
- No other restrictions or limitations: The work itself must not be covered by legal restrictions (patents, contracts, etc.) or limitations (such as privacy rights) which would impede the freedoms enumerated above. A work may make use of existing legal exemptions to copyright (in order to cite copyrighted works), though only the portions of it which are unambiguously free constitute a free work.
In other words, whenever the user of a work cannot legally or practically exercise his or her basic freedoms, the work cannot be considered and should not be called "free."
Further reading
- See Licenses for discussion of individual licenses, and whether they meet this definition or not.
- See History for acknowledgments and background on this definition.
- See the FAQ for some questions and answers.
- See Portal:Index for topic-specific pages about free cultural works.
Versioning
New versions of this definition shall be released as soon as a consensus (achieved directly or through a vote, as per the authoring process) has developed around suggested changes. Numbering shall be 0.x for initial draft releases, 1.x, 2.x .. for major releases, x.1, x.2 .. for minor releases. A minor release is made when the text is modified in ways which do not have an impact on the scope of existing or hypothetical licenses covered by this definition.