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by bgentry 3961 days ago
The Golang Gopher is a design of Renee French, and the lack of attribution here is disappointing. Wouldn't these derivative works also be covered by her copyright?

https://blog.golang.org/gopher

2 comments

The original Gopher is licensed under the Creative Commons 3 Attribution license: https://golang.org/doc/gopher/README

While technically you could license your own stuff under the WTFPL, these gopher images are still CC BY 3.0 underneath that.

I think in CC BY 3.0, as long as proper attribution is given, license of derivative works can be changed.

Licensor cannot revoke adaptation rights, as long as attribution is given, even for commercial use.

So the use of WTFPL is fine here, but the lack of attribution renders CC BY 3.0 non-applicable, and hence makes this repo a copyright infringement.

That's pretty much what I was trying to say... you can decline to add more license to your own work, and decline to ask for your own attribution, but you can't erase the underlying license and WTFPL the whole thing, as the only license.
We have already added licensing. Now it must be ok.
Good that you took action. But it is still not compliant. You must link to original work by Renee. You need include link to her blog, where she posted the design.

See here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

> If supplied, you must provide the name of the creator and attribution parties, a copyright notice, a license notice, a disclaimer notice, and a link to the material.

For reference, here is how official Golang README puts it:

> The Go gopher was designed by Renee French. (http://reneefrench.blogspot.com/)

The lack of attribution here is refreshing. I am sick of living in a world where all ideas have to be meticulously accounted for.
It is also against the spirit of CC, and also against CC BY 3.0, which Gopher is licensed under.

If you don't like attributing, do not use things licensed under CC. It's that simple.

What if you are also against adhering to license terms?
One is free to do what one likes, but there are consequences.