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Comment by terribleperson

1 year ago

While I think NC is a terrible license, hasn't it been settled in court that you can hire someone to produce CC-BY-NC material? You can't run a business selling the material, but you can be hired to produce it.

> You can't run a business selling the material, but you can be hired to produce it.

I'm not a lawyer, so it's not that hard to imagine that I'm missing nuance, but... what's the difference?

  • Also not a lawyer, but here's what I recall: If you are a shop, and you produce copies of something with the intent to sell it, that's commercial use. If you offer some kind of production service, and someone hires you to make produce something, you are acting as their agent. If they have the right to make copies themselves, you can make copies on their behalf.

  • I cannot offer and advertise this specific service. I can produce the part if somebody orders it.

  • I could order a 3d print of a part from somewhere; that somewhere's core business is not printing that specific thing.

That would probably depend on the jurisdiction?

Just because there was a court ruling in one country, doesn't necessarily mean it is legal in another country.

So what workarounds could be had? Contractor business where you hire someone for a few hours to make it for you? Business that sells something else at an elevated price but gives a CC-BY-NC material gift with every purchase?