Revision A, “Pink Lemonade”
March 31, 2025
© 2025 Kouveihl
"This is a license that anyone can freely use for their works. It can be shared in any format, but the text itself must remain exactly as written.”
Intent
The GCL is a license intended for use by the creative individual, covering any variety of artistic work that can be exemplified in a definite medium whether it be in print, digital, analog, etc. Its purpose is to maintain the rights of the artist in harmony with the freedoms of their audience, and to foster a greater framework for artistic ownership and interaction. We achieve this by employing a license that acknowledges the creator’s copyright of their work, while also allowing the audience to copy, display, distribute, and create derivatives of the work so long as they do so non-commercially and give proper attribution to the creators of said works.
The GCL applies to any artistic or creative work that has been made available (i.e. published) to the public by its creator and has been accompanied by a notice from them proclaiming that it is under the GCL. If no specific version is given, it will be assumed to be the latest one published.
Any work put under the GCL may be copied, displayed, and distributed freely, as long as proper attribution is given to the creator, and the use is non-commercial.
Though the creator holds indisputable copyright of their works, derivatives and fan-projects are encouraged, provided that all derivatives are published under the GCL. This rule allows reciprocation of the freedom to use each others creations, and is non-negotiable. So be thoughtful when doing this.
• All derivatives should be labeled as such so that the reputations of the original creators will not be affected in any particular direction.
• Derivatives are not inherently allowed to be used in commercial purposes. See below for further details.
In an effort to protect the rights of the creators to make money from
their own work, any commercial use of a work under the GCL must seek
permission from the creator of the work and if desired by said
creator pay a licensing fee (one whose price and other terms are to be
determined on a case-by-case basis by the creator of the work) or have
some other arrangement be agreed upon with the creator for the
commercial use of the work. Political use of GCL works must be approved
by the creators.
A word to authors of a work who are considering using this license:
This license is like the mob. Once your in, you’re pretty much in. Your work cannot be removed from this license once you attach it. Welcome to the family.
• All works licensed under the GCL must be distributed with a copy of this license intact and without modifications, so as to inform others of the permissions granted to them through this license. If it is a question of space available, a hyperlink to this license is sufficient.
• This license and users of it respect the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright law.
• Commercial use of a GCL work without express permission from the creator is allowed when it falls under the fair use doctrine for criticism, education or parody.
• This license shall be attached to a work for a period of 40 years, after which the work will go into the public domain. For example, if a work is published during the year 2030 under the GCL, then on January 1st, 2071, the work will go into the public domain.
• For so long as a work is under the GCL, the creator retains copyright over their creation, and has the option to transfer the work's copyright.
• Upon the initial transfer of copyright, assuming it is not already in the public domain, a ten year copyright lifespan will be imposed on the work, after which it will go into the public domain. This ten year period takes precedence over the 40 year period mentioned above so long as the work has even a single day remaining of said 40 year period. Further transfers will not reset or alter this 10 year lifespan. So if for example a work has 25 years remaining of its initial 40 year period, and its ownership is transferred to a corporation in exchange for money, the work will no longer have 25 years of its copyright remaining, but rather only 10. And upon the expiration of those 10 years, the work becomes public domain. If a work is transferred in 2030, the ten year lifespan will expire the first day after 2040, which would be January 1st 2041.
• Inheriting a work from the recently deceased is NOT regarded as a transfer and its copyright is able to exist under the inheritor’s ownership for the complete duration of its 40 year copyright lifespan, and the inheritor retains the option of transferring said work as outlined above.
• Upon the recognition of a creator's death, if no inheritor of a work can be determined within 13 months and 13 days, the work goes into the public domain.
• Changing the license of a work to any other rendition of the GCL is allowed. Simply relabel any works with the desired version using either its version number or codename. If there are any discrepancies between the versions, the newly assigned version takes precedence.
• All GCL versions must be approved by Kouveihl to be valid.
Any efforts to subvert or neglect this license may be met accordingly with proper legal action. Gross infringements against this license will warrant proper response, which can result in all freedoms granted by the authors of the works through this license to be revoked from the offending parties and legal recourse may be taken if the matter is not resolved. By interacting with works licensed under the GCL as allowed through this document (e.g., distributing, and creating fan-projects), you are thereby consenting to the terms of this license.