Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
Why attribution is not the same as permission
Naming a source gives credit, and it does not by itself grant a license.
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From the opening
Attribution tells a reader where a work came from, and permission is authority, from the rights holder or from the law, to use the work in a way that would otherwise be reserved. A credit line answers a question about origin, and a license or other allowance answers whether a particular copy, performance, or adaptation may go ahead. The opening covers what a credit line actually answers, what a license actually answers, and how citation norms outrun copyright.
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Inside
- What a credit line actually answers
- What a license actually answers
- How citation norms outrun copyright
- Why a byline can still lack authority
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Credit as information about who made a work
- A license as authority to use a reserved right