 Logo | |
| Latest version | 1.3 |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Copyleft Attitude |
| Published | 8 April 2007[1] |
| SPDX identifier | LAL-1.2, LAL-1.3 |
| FSFapproved | Yes[2] |
| GPL compatible | No[2] (for possible exceptions see thecompatibility section in this article) |
| Copyleft | Yes[2] |
| Website | artlibre.org |
TheFree Art License (FAL) (French:Licence Art Libre, LAL) is acopyleftlicense that grants the right to freely copy,distribute, andtransform creative works except for computer hardware and software, including for commercial use.[3]
The license was written in July 2000, with contributions from the mailing list copyleft_attitude@april.org and, in particular, with French lawyers Mélanie Clément-Fontaine and David Geraud, and French artists Isabelle Vodjdani and Antoine Moreau. It followed meetings held by Copyleft Attitude Antoine Moreau, with the artists gathered around the magazineAllotopie: Francis Deck,Antonio Gallego, Roberto Martinez, and Emma Gall. They took place at "Accès Local" in January 2000 and "Public" in March 2000, two places of contemporary art inParis.[4]
In 2005, Moreau wrote a memoir edited by Liliane Terrier entitled inFrench:Le copyleft appliqué à la création artistique. Le collectif Copyleft Attitude et la Licence Art Libre (Copyleft applied to artistic creation. The Copyleft Attitude collective and the Free Art License).[5]
In 2007, version 1.3 of the Free Art License was amended to provide greaterlegal certainty and optimumcompatibility with other copyleft licenses.[6]
The license was inspired byFLOSS licenses and issues related but not exclusive to digital arts:[7]
It was born out of the observation of the world of free software and the Internet, but its applicability is not limited to digital support.
Version 1.1 was adopted by art organizations like Constant (Brussels) and was translated into English by artist and technologistAntoine Schmitt.[7] The Open Definition website of theOpen Knowledge Foundation lists FAL 1.2 and 1.3 as one of the licenses conformant with the principles outlined in the Open Definition.[8]
The Free Art License 1.3 has been declaredcompatible with CC BY-SA 4.0,[9] but incompatible with the GNU GPL.[2] It is recommended by theFree Software Foundation in the following terms: "We don't take the position that artistic or entertainment works must be free, but if you want to make one free, we recommend the Free Art License."[10]
The Free Art License 1.3 is equivalent to theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 license.[11]
On October 21, 2014, after public discussions, the Copyleft Attitude collective announced that the Free Art License is now legally compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.[12] The Creative Commons organization warmly welcomed this decision as it had defended this compatibility since the beginning.[13]
