we envision this forum to be a vast, murky mess of beautiful and chaotic discussion of how we - the official agents of überbabe and the teeming legions of überbabes everywhere - want godware, sugarlab's open content model, to evolve.
the official-and-as-plain-english-as-we-could-make-it definition of godware is here, and copied below. the thrust of godware, is pretty simple.
back in the covered wagon days of the late 90s, when godware was a twinkle in my saucy analyst's eye, i decided that copyright law was more rightly, in the eyes of the copyright holder, with input from the end user, or "consumer" - and not just in the eyes of the dominant copyright cartels [insert RIAA, MPAA, etc. here].
my opinion then, as it is now, is that when we resonate, truly resonate, with entertainment, or entertainment content [however you define THAT globular word], our natural response is to want to play with it, to immerse ourselves in it, to become part of it. the only difference in the world of emerging media, than in the world of traditional media, is that we now have tools that allow us to do this.
creative commons licenses provide a solid framework for opening up media, noncommercially. we use, and will continue to use, variations of the creative commons licenses.
godware is a mechanism that allows our users to contribute to the überbabe mythology, commercially. moreover, it invites our users [aka, you] to help us further develop godware. sugarlab ultimately makes the final decision on what becomes official mythology and how it is compensated, but you can bet your fine überbabe a$$ that our community will have massive input - from brainstorming recognition and royalty models to voting on what user-modified should make the cut to the official world.
and there you have it. so ask us questions, tell us your initial thoughts, get into our world and get your hands good and dirty. let's make and take media, in our own hands.
or so says the lady überbabe.
godware
godware is an open content model. Created by sugarlab, it defines how a fan or user may use, re-purpose and extend the content, or intellectual property, owned or hosted by sugarlab. It provides a method for paying contributors and giving them credit for their work when sugarlab uses their extensions commercially.
sugarlab uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license to allow you to participate in the non-commercial creation of the überbabe mythology. You can find a description of the Creative Commons license we use here.
sugarlab uses godware to give you a way to participate in the commercial creation of the überbabe mythology.
godware currently applies to sugarlab-owned content and is compatible with existing copyright law; it can also be used by other copyright owners.
All überbabe intellectual property (called "IP"), including concepts, characters and stories (such as precepts, timelines, narrative back stories, character descriptions and designs, and other associated materials in the überbabe “bible”), and related literary, dramatic, artistic and other works, existing and to be developed, is owned by ultra-agent industries, inc. and exclusively licensed to sugarlab corp. sugarlab corp. is allowed to extend the überbabe IP and sub-license it.
So, ultra-agent and sugarlab create, manage, own and control the content that we call the “official gospels of überbabe”. Under the Creative Commons License Version 2.5 and godware, sugarlab releases überbabe content for user modification, allowing you, our users, to create extensions of this content, such as new characters, storylines, music, stickers and fan sites. We call all of these creations the “unofficial gospels of überbabe”.
Because all of the "unofficial gospels" content is based on the "official gospels", they are owned by ultra-agent. In legalese: since all derivative überbabe works are based on überbabe intellectual proprerty, these same derivative works are owned by ultra-agent industries, inc. and exclusively licensed by sugarlab corp. Whew.
In the godware model, all the content that our users produce and submit to the "unofficial gospels" are reviewed by sugarlab for inclusion in the “official gospels”. If we decide to include user-produced content in the “official gospels”, they become part of the überbabe mythology. When content is included in the “official gospel”, the content producer will receive contributor credit and, when appropriate, a royalty based on where and how the content is used commercially.
Here is an example, specific to music:
1] Little Lucy remixes the “überbabe ultra-love song” and uploads it to apocrypha.uberbabe.com, where it's reviewed by sugarlab, the official agents of überbabe.
The publishing rights to the “überbabe ultra-love song” are owned by ultra-agent industries. The writer's interest is split equally between lyricist Lisa Voldeng, aka lady überbabe, and composer Elad Marish, aka Daddy Elad.
2] We decide we think Lucy's derivative work is killer, and decide to include it in the official mythology, releasing it both as a digital single, and on the next überbabe CD. We give Little Lucy contributing artist credit for her killer song, or derivative work. And as an honorary royalty for her sexy ass work with our IP, we give Little Lucy up to 50% of the writer's interest in the song.
3] We memorialize our agreement in a contract with Little Lucy. When the derivative song is released, Little Lucy is promoted as a contributing artist, and paid her portion of every song sold, as per ASCAP guidelines. And forevermore, her remix is part of the official überbabe canon.
4] The stars blink and flutter at the mad fairness of it all.
We expect godware to be a totally dynamic model, evolving as we do. Which brings us to this: While the ultimate decision with what becomes official überbabe gospel rests solely with sugarlab, aka the official agents of überbabe, our community is instrumentally involved in continuing to define godware, and in determining what and how user-modified works become part of the "official gospels". So come share our love.
