Free for Education License

The Australian Organization AEShareNet Limited introduced the "Free for Education License" last year but I just came across the discussion in an article by Volker Kitz in May's issue of the International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (not available free online). The license is administered by AEShareNet Limited is a non-profit company, according to the article, established by the Australian Ministers of Education and Training. Here's a quick overview:

According to the website: "AEShareNet connects people who are looking for learning materials with those who own them. There are two ways to connect people: firstly, using Instant Licences, which are freely available, when you attach a relevant Mark; or alternatively, through Mediated licences, which are transacted online through the AEShareNet Service."

There are four types of free licenses:

• AEShareNet-FfE – Free for Education
• AEShareNet-U – Unlocked Content
• AEShareNet-S – Share and Return (the icon for this one is a boomerang! cute)
• AEShareNet-P – Preserve Integrity

Basically, it seems to be a Creative Commons service meets the Copyright Clearance Center for educational materials.

The license provides that a licensed and marked work may be used freely for educational purposes where education is defined as a "structured program of learning and/or teaching for the benefit of a learner." Use includes emailing and uploading them to an intranet. Kitz describes the scheme as an "additional dealing right for the educational sector on a voluntary basis. It is an attempt at self-help where the elgal framework does not quite met the demands of reality."

The scheme also includes a "most downloaded" rating scheme to create a "vanity" inducement to posting under the license.

On the whole, it duplicates Creative Commons yet provides for a more narrow category of use, namely educational uses. It remains to be seen if this captures user interest. This alone may attract more tagging and licensing, which is not a bad thing. Also - the idea of creating a geographically-based (i.e. Australia) educational community of content sharers may have positive externalities in terms of tightening the ties that bind teachers, publishers and others commited to education in a community. The more people we can get to share work and tag work appropriately, the greater our ability to create a lawful yet creative culture.

It's on my to do pile to read the licenses in detail but, for now, I'm off.