10 With this Free Art License, you are authorised to copy, distribute and freely
11 transform the work of art while respecting the rights of the originator.
13 Far from ignoring the author's rights, this license recognises them and
14 protects them. It reformulates their principle while making it possible for the
15 public to make creative use of the works of art. Whereas current literary and
16 artistic property rights result in restriction of the public's access to works
17 of art, the goal of the Free Art License is to encourage such access.
19 The intention is to make work accessible and to authorise the use of its
20 resources by the greatest number of people: to use it in order to increase its
21 use, to create new conditions for creation in order to multiply the
22 possibilities of creation, while respecting the originators in according them
23 recognition and defending their moral rights.
25 In fact, with the arrival of the digital age, the invention of the Internet and
26 free software, a new approach to creation and production has made its
27 appearance. It also encourages a continuation of the process of experimentation
28 undertaken by many contemporary artists.
30 Knowledge and creativity are resources which, to be true to themselves, must
31 remain free, i.e. remain a fundamental search which is not directly related to
32 a concrete application. Creating means discovering the unknown, means inventing
33 a reality without any heed to realism. Thus, the object(ive) of art is not
34 equivalent to the finished and defined art object. This is the basic aim of
35 this Free Art License: to promote and protect artistic practice freed from the
36 rules of the market economy.
40 - The work of art : A communal work which includes the initial artwork as well
41 as all subsequent contributions (subsequent originals and copies). It is
42 created at the initiative of the original artist who, by this license, defines
43 the conditions according to which the contributions are made.
45 - The original work of art : This is the artwork created by the initiator of
46 the communal work, of which copies will be modified by whosoever wishes.
48 - Subsequent works : These are the additions put forward by the artists who
49 contribute to the formation of the work by taking advantage of the right to
50 reproduction, distribution and modification that this license confers on them.
52 - The Original (the work's source or resource) : A dated example of the work,
53 of its definition, of its partition or of its program which the originator
54 provides as the reference for all future updatings, interpretations, copies or
57 - Copy : Any reproduction of an original as defined by this license.
59 - The author or the artist of the original work of art: This is the person who
60 created the work which is at the heart of the ramifications of this modified
61 work of art. By this license, the author determines the conditions under which
62 these modifications are made.
64 - Contributor: Any person who contributes to the creation of the work of art.
65 He is the author or the artist of an original art object resulting from the
66 modification of a copy of the initial artwork or the modification of a copy of
67 a subsequent work of art.
73 The aim of this license is to define the conditions according to which you can
76 2. EXTENT OF THE USAGE
78 This work of art is subject to copyright, and the author, by this license,
79 specifies the extent to which you can copy, distribute and modify it.
81 2.1 FREEDOM TO COPY (OR OF REPRODUCTION)
83 You have the right to copy this work of art for your personal use, for your
84 friends or for any other person, by employing whatever technique you choose.
86 2.2 FREEDOM TO DISTRIBUTE, TO INTERPRET (OR OF REPRESENTATION)
88 You can freely distribute the copies of these works, modified or not, whatever
89 their medium, wherever you wish, for a fee or for free, if you observe all the
91 - attach this license, in its entirety, to the copies or indicate precisely
92 where the license can be found,
93 - specify to the recipient the name of the author of the originals,
94 - specify to the recipient where he will be able to access the originals
95 (original and subsequent). The author of the original may, if he wishes, give
96 you the right to broadcast/distribute the original under the same conditions as
101 You have the right to modify the copies of the originals (original and
102 subsequent), partially or otherwise, respecting the conditions set out in
103 article 2.2 , in the event of distribution (or representation) of the modified
104 copy. The author of the original may, if he wishes, give you the right to
105 modify the original under the same conditions as the copies.
107 3. INCORPORATION OF ARTWORK
109 All the elements of this work of art must remain free, which is why you are not
110 allowed to integrate the originals (originals and subsequents) into another
111 work which would not be subject to this license.
113 4. YOUR AUTHOR'S RIGHTS
115 The object of this license is not to deny your author's rights on your
116 contribution. By choosing to contribute to the evolution of this work of art,
117 you only agree to give to others the same rights with regard to your
118 contribution as those which were granted to you by this license.
120 5. DURATION OF THE LICENCE
122 This license takes effect as of your acceptance of its provisions. The fact of
123 copying, distributing, or of modifying the work constitutes a tacit agreement.
124 This license will remain in force for as long as the copyright which is
125 attached to the work of art. If you do not respect the terms of this license,
126 you automatically lose the rights that it confers. If the legal status to which
127 you are subject makes it impossible for you to respect the terms of this
128 license, you may not make use of the rights which it confers.
130 6. VARIOUS VERSIONS OF THE LICENCE
132 This license may undergo periodic modifications to incorporate improvements by
133 its authors (instigators of the "copyleft attitude" movement) by way of new,
136 You will have the choice of accepting the provisions contained in the version
137 under which the copy was communicated to you, or alternatively, to use the
138 provisions of one of the subsequent versions.
142 Sub-licenses are not authorized by the present license. Any person who wishes
143 to make use of the rights that it confers will be directly bound to the author
144 of the original work.
146 8. THE LAW APPLICABLE TO THIS CONTRACT
148 This license is subject to French law.
154 - How to use the Free Art license?
156 To benefit from the Free Art License, it is enough to specify the following on
159 [- A few lines to indicate the name of the work and to give an idea of what it
160 is.] [- A few lines to describe, if necessary, the modified work of art and
161 give the name of the author/artist.] Copyright © [the date] [name of the author
162 or artist] (if appropriate, specify the names of the previous authors or
163 artists) Copyleft: this work of art is free, you can redistribute it and/or
164 modify it according to terms of the Free Art license. You will find a specimen
165 of this license on the site Copyleft Attitude http://artlibre.org as well as on
168 - Why use the Free Art license?
170 1 / to give the greatest number of people access to your work.
172 2 / to allow it to be freely distributed.
174 3 / to allow it to evolve by authorising its transformation by others.
176 4 / to be able, yourself, to use the resources of a work when it is under Free
177 Art license: to copy, distribute or transform it freely.
179 5 / This is not all: because the use of the Free Art License is also a good way
180 to take liberties with the marketing system generated by the dominant economy.
181 The Free Art License offers a useful legal protocol to prevent abusive
182 appropriation. It will no longer be possible for someone to appropriate your
183 work, short-circuiting the creative process to make personal profit from it.
184 Helping yourself to a collective work in progress will be forbidden, as will
185 monopolising the resources of an evolving creation for the benefit of a few.
187 The Free Art License advocates an economy appropriate for art, based on
188 sharing, exchange and joyful giving. What counts in art is also and mostly what
191 - When to use the Free Art License ?
193 It is not the goal of the Free Art License to eliminate copyright or author's
194 rights. Quite the opposite, it is about reformulating the relevance of these
195 rights while taking today's environment into account. It is about the right to
196 freedom of movement, to free copying and to free transformation of works of
197 art. The right to work in freedom for art and artists.
199 1 / Each time you want to use or put this right into practice, use the Free Art
202 2 / Each time you want to create works which can evolve and be freely copied,
203 freely distributed and freely transformed: use the Free Art License.
205 3 / Each time you want to have the possibility of copying, distributing or
206 transforming a work: check that it is under Free Art License. If it is not, you
207 are liable to be breaking the law.
209 - To which types of art can the Free Art License be applied?
211 This license can be applied to digital as well as to non-digital art. It was
212 born out of observation of the world of free software and the Internet, but its
213 applicability is not limited to the digital media. You can put a painting, a
214 novel, a sculpture, a drawing, a piece of music, a poem, an installation, a
215 video, a film, a recipe, a CD-rom, a Web site, or a performance under the Free
216 Art License, in short any creation which has some claim to be a work of art.
218 This license has a history: it was born at the meeting " Copyleft Attitude "
219 which took place at "Accès Local" and "Public" in Paris at the beginning of the
220 year 2000. For the first time, it brought computer specialists and freeware
221 activists together with contemporary artists and members of the art world.