CC Attribution license


2

I'm developing an app for android, I found an icon that I would like to use, the icon is licensed under the CC Attribution 3.0 Unported license, which says that I can freely use it for commercial purposes, I contacted the author and he says that 'he recently changed the license' to disallow commercial use, it all sounds fishy to me, as now he requires a percentage of my earnings if I should use that icon.

I'm a little bit unsure about what I should do, so I thought I'd ask here.

Here's a link to the icon: www.softicons.com/free-icons/system-icons/windows-8-metro-icons-by-dakirby309/visual-studio-icon

License

asked Feb 7 '13 at 18:49
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Animaonline
113 points
  • ty for your answers @TimNash and AndrettiMilas – Animaonline 11 years ago

2 Answers


1

This is one of those I am not a lawyer questions as such ultimately if you feel strongly enough you should consult with one.

However the image on that site is licensed as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ which can indeed be used for commercial use. If the author wishes to change the license he is responsible for identifying and updating those locations. As licensed you are free to use it and their isn't anything he can really do about it. If he does have any legal recourse it would be more likely to be with softicons assuming they have ignored his request for his work to be removed. The license does clearly state that the author has the right to release the work under a different license, however work already in use with this license may continue to do so.

Subject to the above terms and conditions, the license granted here is perpetual (for the duration of the applicable copyright in the Work). Notwithstanding the above, Licensor reserves the right to release the Work under different license terms or to stop distributing the Work at any time; provided, however that any such election will not serve to withdraw this License (or any other license that has been, or is required to be, granted under the terms of this License), and this License will continue in full force and effect unless terminated as stated above.

That said, the author has made it clear to you that even though he licensed his work one way he desires something else. It's up to you to decide if it's worth discussing with him/arguing with him, using it anyway or just seek an equally nice icon. It may well be that you decide its not worth the hassle of dealing with an irate author and any associated publicity.

Standard IAMNL disclaimer begins

answered Feb 7 '13 at 22:22
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Tim Nash
1,107 points

0

The problem was asking him. Now that you know, he can claim you knew. Give it up and don't use the icon. Prior to asking, you could have simply used it and proved which license he was issuing it under.

When you violate the terms of use of a Creative Commons license, there is no longer any protection under it. Please note, US Courts do not see a Creative Commons license as an equivalent to copyrighting. Some judges may decide they hold up, others will claim they do not. If the author of a work officially copyrighted it and Creative Commons licensed it, guess which one will prevail. The copyright. An icon isn't that big of a deal, spend $30 on a crowd sourcing site and have somebody make

answered Feb 8 '13 at 03:37
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Andretti Milas
174 points
  • Yeah I guess so hehe, I ended up paying him 15 bucks, it's a great icon, so it was worth it, I would have never paid more than that. – Animaonline 11 years ago
  • Agreed - icons are all over the place. – Andretti Milas 11 years ago

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