Open Lore NetworkOLN
Network/Register/Fandom Cc By Sa Derivative Scope
Gap Register
G-044Public

Fandom CC-BY-SA derivative scope

Tier 1 — Existential, blocks launch
Status
Open — not started
Owner
Creator
Why now
Direct Fandom ingest may force CC-BY-SA on derivative work, cascading into Creator Home licensing and external monetization.
Related
Entry 034, G-002, G-017, G-060, G-068

Legal opinion required before any Fandom-derived content enters Commons. Holding pattern: Fandom as reference-only signal until resolved. Also scopes the fact-extraction boundary and how contributor-pasted copyrighted prose is handled.

Why this matters

Fandom content is CC-BY-SA (and some wikis, e.g. Memory Alpha, are CC-BY-NC — non-commercial — which an ad-supported OLN cannot rehost, Entry 034). Under share-alike, derivative works inherit the license. If Fandom-derived content enters Commons, the implications cascade into:

  • Layer 9 monetization model (creator revenue on share-alike work)
  • Creator Home licensing terms
  • External licensing (Article VI of the economic framework) — third parties licensing OLN content would inherit CC-BY-SA on any Fandom-derived portions

Requires legal opinion before architecting Fandom ingest. Holding pattern in place: treat Fandom as reference-only signal (input to human authoring) rather than direct ingest source.

Fact-extraction boundary (source-as-lead vs source-as-source)

You cannot launder a source's license by extracting from it; safety comes from how, not from "facts aren't copyrightable" alone.

  • ✅ Reference-as-lead — a human reads the source as a lead, verifies each fact against the primary/canonical work (or an unrestricted source), and records that independent provenance (the G-068 rule). The source's license (NC/SA) doesn't bite, because no expression or compilation is reused.
  • 🔴 Source-as-source — automated/bulk extraction stored with the source as the de-facto origin, used commercially. This re-creates the NC/derivative problem plus EU database-rights (substantial-part extraction) and copying of the source's selection/arrangement.
  • Separate, larger layer: for fictional universes the in-universe "facts" are the IP holder's copyright/trademark (e.g. Star Trek = Paramount), not the wiki's — handled under the same descriptive/transformative fair-use posture every fan wiki uses (counsel-dependent). Real-world metadata (air dates etc.) are plain uncopyrightable facts.

Contributor-pasted prose (do we block the publish?)

If OLN doesn't import prose but a contributor pastes copyrighted/CC-BY-NC text verbatim:

The legal floor is low (US DMCA §512 safe harbor is reactive — notice-and-takedown + registered agent + no red-flag knowledge + no inducement; EU DSM Art. 17 + database rights is stricter). OLN deliberately holds a stricter standard than the legal floor, because verbatim NC prose on an ad-supported platform is a clear OLN-benefiting violation, a copy-encouraging flow can forfeit safe harbor, it's antithetical to the prose→Facts product (Entry 029), and duplicate content sabotages the SEO fight.

Strict requirements (MUST)

  1. Copied-content / similarity detection runs on every contribution — required, not optional.
  2. Human review before publish for any flagged contribution — required; no auto-publish of flagged prose. Consistent with the G-060 review/confirm queue (nothing graduates without human confirmation).
  3. Verbatim paste from CC-BY-NC sources (e.g. Memory Alpha) is blocked/soft-gated at entry.

Supporting: contributor attestation (original / has rights); DMCA registered agent + takedown path (G-002, G-017). The prose→Facts model (G-057) is the structural mitigation — capture Facts, don't host pasted prose.

Counsel required on the safe-harbor / Art. 17 posture and the fictional-IP fair-use question.