Question on commercial use of ODP data.

[bobmutch]

I would like to know if ODP data can be used on a commercial site and offered as a free resource with the proper attribution according to the ODP license http://dmoz.org/license.html?

 

Further I would like to know if I use a list of URLs from an ODP category and add my own titles and descriptions is that consider using the ODP data and is a proper attribution required?

 

Also I would like to know if one can subtract and add to the ODP data taken from a category with out keeping it in sync with the ODP data.

[hutcheson]

(1) The license says nothing about "commercial" or "non-commercial"

 

(2) The URLs are not ours, they come from the website. The categorization IS ours.

 

There's a difference between "using the ODP as one resource to help find websites to review for your own site" and "creating a modified version of the ODP". The former is OK, the latter would require attribution. The line between them is ... perhaps hard to draw precisely.

s

[bobmutch]

hutcheson: Ok thank you very much. I was discussing this with some one that they confusing a statement from the http://dmoz.org/termsofuse.html terms of use what says "Unless otherwise noted, you may view, copy, download, and print Netscape documents from the ODP so long as you use them only for personal, non-commercial purposes and do not post, distribute, or modify them or remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices. Any further use of the ODP or its content is governed by the Open Directory License"

 

They said ODP data could be only used for personal or non-commercial purchases. But this above quote is concerning the "Netscape documents from the ODP" which is different than the data and category structure.

[pvgool]

Ahh. But their is a difference between documents (the text in our guidelines for example) and the content (our category structure and the titles and descriptions of the websites).

 

Unless otherwise noted, you may view, copy, download, and print Netscape documents from the ODP so long as you use them only for personal, non-commercial purposes and do not post, distribute, or modify them or remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices. Any further use of the ODP or its content is governed by the Open Directory License

[bobmutch]

pvgool: Yes I agree. That was what I told them. They were very sure that they were right and derided me quite a bit for my position.

 

"Further I would like to know if I use a list of URLs from an ODP category and add my own titles and descriptions is that consider using the ODP data and is a proper attribution required? "

What is your take on this one. I know that lists of URL can be copyrighted. A person is able to mine the URLs only from DMOZ minus any category structure and write there own titles and descriptoins. This would not be in violation of the copyright of the data would it?

[pvgool]

If you only use DMOZ to find urls and make your own directory structure, titles and descriptions you will need no attribution at all. If you copy the listings with title and descriptions you need the attribution, but you are free to add sites not listed by us and you don't need to use all listings from DMOZ.

[bobmutch]

pvgool: Ok that makes good sense, thanks!