AEShareNet marking
Overview
This document describes how the AEShareNet trade mark should be applied to copyright materials by Licensors.
Introduction
TVET Australia Limited has a registered trademark for the word "AEShareNet". This trade mark was originally obtained by the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA), and assigned to AEShareNet Limited on June 2001 and finally TVET Australia Limited on 14th of May 2007. A trade mark is a form of property right; only Members are authorised to exercise that right.
The Mark may be regarded as the capstone of the AEShareNet licensing system. The system is, in a sense, a language which AEShareNet Members agree to use to communicate and transact business, in particular copyright licences. The word "AEShareNet" appears as part of any Licence Mark. Its purpose is:
- to signify that the party applying it is a Member of AEShareNet; and
- to entitle other parties to assume that whenever the trade mark "AEShareNet" is used AEShareNet language conventions are being followed in a consistent fashion, i.e., that any Licence Mark has the meaning and consequences it is supposed to have under the AEShareNet licence Glossary.
To enhance its distinctiveness as a trade mark the word "AEShareNet" should be depicted uniformly in Times Roman with italics with capitalisation as shown. Capitalisation may be dropped in some situations, e.g., where the Mark is used as a component of a URL.
Licence Marks
In the AEShareNet licensing system, a Licence Mark is a Mark applied by a Member (the Licensor) to copyright Material to signify the terms of licence extended by the Licensor for beneficiaries to use that Material.
A Mark may include any combination of letters, words, names, signatures, numerals, devices, headings, labels, animation, metadata, hyperlinks, functionality or other treatment, capable of being applied to copyright Material. A Mark may be constructed of a fixed element and a variable element, combined according to a rule of construction. It might consist of a URL which links directly or indirectly to the relevant AEShareNet Licence Profile. Each Licence Mark incorporates a representation of the word "AEShareNet".
The characteristics of each licence regime are defined in the relevant Profile.
In addition to setting out licence terms, the Profile defines the Licence
Mark itself and its manner of application, distinguishes the essential requirements
to constitute a valid "application" and optional "application
guidelines" and spells out the mechanism by which a potential Licensee
may activate a binding licence of that type.
The AEShareNet licensing system provides for 3 different models or mechanisms for the creation
of licences, which are now described in turn.
Immediate Licensing (AEShareNet-U)
AEShareNet-U would always operate under an Immediate Licensing model, i.e. the Licensor marks the material and all the world may exercise the licence, usually without reference back to the AEShareNet licensing system or the Licensor. The full Marking might appear as follows:
© 2004 <copyright owner>
http://www.aesharenet.com.au/U/<version><Licensor ID>
There is no requirement for "registration" of each Marking. The URL links to the AEShareNet website which confirms (if necessary) that the Licensor is a current Member and retrieves the standard licence conditions for the indicated version of AEShareNet-U. If no version is stipulated the most current version is assumed.
Mediated Licensing (AEShareNet-P and AEShareNet-S)
AEShareNet-P and AEShareNet-S would operate under a Mediated (Registration
and Acceptance) model, i.e. the Licensor Registers the licence at the AEShareNet
website and Marks the material so as to link to the registration.
The full Marking might appear as follows:
© 2004 <copyright owner>
AEShareNet-[P/S]:
http://www.aesharenet.com.au/<material registration number>
In conjunction with Marking, the Licensor should "register" the Marking at the AEShareNet website. This has the effect of bestowing certain functionality to the URL, which may be regarded as part of the Mark. Registration involves creating an entry at the website. The AEShareNet licensing system would grant access to any Member (after authentication) for that purpose. The entry stored identifies the Material, the Licensor, the copyright owner (if different to Licensor), contact address for the Licensor in relation to that Material, etc. Most importantly it indicates the Licence regime and version applicable to the Material. If the registration specifies, say, "AEShareNet-S/1", that indicates that the Material is available for licence under AEShareNet-S, version 1. If the version number is omitted, the licence conditions would be as stated in the most current version of AEShareNet-S.
The registration details can be changed by the Licensor at any time.
Marking and Registration indicate all the conditions of licensing and therefore constitute an offer to all AEShareNet Members. Any Member may Accept the offer by visiting the registration data at the website and posting an Acceptance, which is recorded by the system and notified to the Licensor.
Extended Mediation (AEShareNet-C)
AEShareNet-C would operate under what might be called an Extended Mediation model, i.e. the Licensor Registers the licence at the AEShareNet website and Marks the Material so as to link to the registration. The full Marking might appear as follows:
© 2004 <copyright owner>
AEShareNet-C:
http://www.aesharenet.com.au/<material registration number>
In conjunction with Marking, the Licensor should again "register" the Marking. For AEShareNet-C licences the registration process entails entering some variable information - see various "Options" identified in AEShareNet-C profile.
Again, the registration details can be changed by the Licensor at any time.
Any AEShareNet Member may visit the website to view the Licence conditions and options. In some cases it would be possible to accept immediately. In others it would be necessary to complete details of the proposed use (eg, a multimedia product) and/or substitute counter-proposals (e.g., for the permitted platforms and royalty structure). The revised schedule of terms is electronically posted to the Licensor. The process continues, under the system's mediation, until a completed proposal is accepted without alteration.
Application of Mark to Material
To be effective, a Mark must be "applied" to some Material. The relationship between the Material and the Mark applied to it may vary. The Mark could:
- actually be embedded in the Material;
- be shown as a footer or header or endnote;
- appear in a contents entry or index entry specifically relating to that material;
- appear on the cover, title page, Home Page relating to that Material as well as other material; or
- be included in a separate catalogue listing or database of materials, and related to the actual item by a reference or order number or simply title.
The question of whether a Mark has been applied to particular material in practice may of course raise issues of judgment or interpretation. The standard test is whether the Mark appears within, on or otherwise in clear relationship to the Material. This is subject to any special "application" requirements stated in the Licence Profile.
Required and optional aspects of marking
In the examples above, essential components of the Mark are shown in bold . Normal type indicates optional information which is not part of the Licence Mark, for example:
- a copyright notice satisfying requirements of the Berne Convention and
Universal Copyright Convention, such as:
"© 2004 Commonwealth of Australia (DETYA)"; - the Licensor may wish to indicate the Licence regime in a visible way, eg, "AEShareNet-S", even though mediated licensing applies.
The additional material is provided only for convenience and is not required or legally effective as part of the Mark. Thus in the second example the Licensee should nevertheless navigate to the AEShareNet website to check that the licence regime has not altered.