Recommending CC0 for GBIF data | OPEN TREE OF LIFE

"GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) recently issued a request for comment on its data licensing policy. While Open Tree of LIfe does not currently use specimen data, we do use the GBIF classification in order to help resolve names and also as part of the opentree backbone. Jonathan Rees, Karen Cranston, Todd Vision and Hilmar Lapp wrote a response recommending a CC0 waiver for all GBIF data. Here is our summary, and a link to the full response on Figshare ... Summary ... As a data aggregator, the goal of GBIF should be to find policies that benefit both its data providers and data reusers. Clearly, a GBIF that has no or few data will have little value, but so will a GBIF full of data that is encumbered with restrictions to an extent that stifles reuse.  Our response follows from the proposition that promoting data reuse should be a shared interest of all the parties: data providers, data users, and GBIF itself. We feel the consultation document missed the opportunity to recognize this shared interest, and that furthering the goal of data reuse should in fact be a primary yardstick by which different licensing options are measured.  Tracking the reuse of data is a critically important goal, as it provides a means of reward to data providers, allows scrutiny of derived results, and enables discovery of related research. Initiatives such as DataCite have have made considerable progress in recent years in enabling tracking of data reuse by addressing sociotechnical obstacles to tracking data reuse. By contrast, the consultation, in our view, puts undue weight on legal requirements for attribution. Legal instruments such as licenses are unsuitable, not designed for, and of little if any benefit for this purpose. Moreover, in most of the world, there is little to no formally recognized intellectual property protection for data, and it is on such protection that licenses rest.  In short, our recommendations are (1) that all data in GBIF be released under Creative Commons Zero (CC0), which is a public domain dedication that waives copyright rather than asserting it; (2) GBIF should set clear expectations in the form of community norms for how the data that it serves is to be referenced when reused, and (3) GBIF should work with partner organizations in promoting standards and technologies that enable the effective tracking of data reuse.  We note that our analysis is based on our understanding of the law; we are not legal professionals and this is not legal advice."