The Nwulite Obodo Open Data License: A New Licence for Sharing African Datasets

African dataset creators are at the forefront of capturing the continent’s unique context and addressing pressing challenges faced by Africans and developing nations.¹ They may hold copyright and/or property rights based on ownership, possession, or custody, which allows them to determine how others may use the datasets they create.² To facilitate sharing, open licenses such as Creative Commons, Open Data Commons, Community Data License Agreements are typically employed. However, these open licenses pose a challenge as they treat all users of African datasets uniformly, failing to recognize their differing contexts.³

Consequently, advocating for African licensing frameworks would aid in addressing some of these challenges by incorporating the nuances of cultural relevance and aligning with institutional dynamics unique to African data initiatives. African licensing frameworks would further offer stronger protections for indigenous knowledge and language data, recognizing the discrepancies in existing licensing practices that were not designed to protect cultural integrity sufficiently.⁴

Enter the Nwulite Obodo Open Data License – a solution that enables the sharing of African datasets in a way that is “open to all yet equitable for the source communities.”⁵ The introduction of the Nwulite Obodo Open Data License (Nwulite License) marks significant advancement in the landscape of data sharing, particularly within the African context.⁶ It is designed to facilitate equitable sharing of African datasets while addressing the unique needs of creators and users in the region.⁷

The Nwulite License is the result of a collaborative project between Data Science Law Lab, the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law and  Data Science for Social Impact. 

Rationale for a New Open License

Standard open licenses, while promoting accessibility and sharing, present several drawbacks that necessitate exploring alternative licensing frameworks, particularly concerning African datasets and participatory research involving multiple contributors.

The inadequacies of standard open licenses stem from several factors:

1. Attribution Challenges: Open licenses often require attribution, which can be particularly difficult in collaborative settings. African datasets are rarely developed by a single individual; they frequently involve participatory research with multiple collaborators, making it challenging to accurately credit all contributors.⁸ This can lead to attribution stacking, where the complexity of citing numerous contributors discourages proper acknowledgment and can result in legal ambiguities regarding data use.⁹

2. Use restrictions: Advocates of the open data movement often contend that use restrictions undermine the fundamental principle of openness by limiting certain forms of reuse.¹⁰ For instance, a Creative Commons CC BY-NC license prohibits the reuse of licensed material for commercial purposes. However, unrestricted use of open data can lead to exploitation and harm, particularly in cases of digital colonialism.¹¹

3. Extractive Practices: Standard licenses may not adequately protect against extractive practices where data is harvested without fair compensation or recognition of the original creators.¹² This concern is particularly relevant in contexts where local communities contribute to data generation but lack visibility into how their data is stored, used, or impacts them.¹³

4. Challenges to cultural and community rights: Standard open licenses can undermine community ownership and local stakeholders’ agency over cultural materials, increasing the risk of exploitation or misrepresentation, as these licenses often fail to consider the diverse needs, customs, and practices of African communities, imposing a one-size-fits-all approach that disregards local knowledge sharing and ownership rights.¹⁴

Key Features of the Nwulite Obodo Open Data License

The Nwulite License addresses these drawbacks of standard licenses by establishing a structured approach to data sharing, distinguishing between users from Africa and developing countries and those from outside these regions. It specifies rights and responsibilities for both Dataset Providers and Dataset Recipients. Below are the main features of this license:

1. Key Definitions¹⁵

   1. A Dataset Provider: the individual or entity granting rights under this license.

   2. Data Recipient: an individual or entity who is a citizen and resident in a Developing Country, receiving the Licensed Material from a Dataset Provider and agreeing to the license terms. This term may also apply to a person not explicitly covered by this definition.

   3. Adapted Material: any material derived from the Licensed Material that has been modified in a way requiring permission from the Dataset Provider.

2. Scope of the License¹⁶

To promote equitable data sharing, this license includes the following elements:

1. License Terms: Dataset Providers grant Data Recipients from Developing Countries a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive and irrevocable license to use, modify, and share the Licensed Material within Developing Nations. Unlike traditional open licenses that apply uniform terms to all users, the Nwulite Obodo License introduces a tripartite framework that differentiates between users from Africa and developing nations and those from outside these regions.¹⁷ Users from Africa and developing nations must share any modified datasets under the same license and can only distribute them within Africa or to other developing nations.¹⁸ Commercial use is restricted to markets outside Africa or developing regions.¹⁹ In contrast, users from outside Africa and developing nations must comply with the same sharing conditions but are also required to provide royalty payments or other benefits to the African dataset owners.²⁰

2. Downstream Recipients: All recipients of the Licensed Material automatically receive Licensed Rights under the same terms. Recipients of Adapted Material also get rights according to the Adapter’s License terms.

3. Restrictions: Dataset Recipients cannot impose additional restrictions on others’ exercise of Licensed Rights. The License does not imply endorsement by the Dataset Provider.

4. Intellectual Property Rights: Moral rights, publicity and privacy rights are not licensed, but the Dataset Providers agree not to assert these rights to allow the Data Recipient to exercise the Licensed Rights. Patent and trademark rights are excluded from this as well.

3. License Conditions²¹:

1. Attribution: When sharing Licensed Material or modifications, Data Recipients must retain any attribution information provided by the Dataset Provider, including creator identification and copyright notices.

2. Share Alike: A Dataset Recipient from a developing country, sharing Adapted Material must use the same license or a compatible one with similar terms. Sharing or exporting to non-developing countries requires verification of the recipient’s location. Additional restrictions on rights granted under the Adapter’s License are prohibited.

3. Royalty Payments and Benefits: Dataset Recipients outside Developing Countries using Licensed Material or sharing Adapted Material, must pay or provide benefits to the Dataset Providers before use. They cannot impose further restrictions on the Adapted Material.

4. Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability²²: The Dataset Provider offers the Licensed Material “as-is” without any warranties regarding its accuracy or fitness for a particular purpose. Liability for any damages arising from the use of the Licensed Material is limited.

5. Term and Termination²³: The license remains valid as long as its terms are complied with. If violated, rights terminate automatically but can be reinstated if violations are corrected within 30 days. The license also automatically terminates if a Developing Nation ceases to qualify as such, with a five-year grace period for compliance before liability for infringement arises.

The African Dataset Creation Split Sheet

In addition to the license itself, there are pre-licensing guidelines, which include tools offered for potential licensors and licensees along with principles designed to make sharing and reusing African datasets easier, more effective and most importantly, equitable. Key among these tools is a customizable and downloadable ‘African Dataset Creation Split Sheet’, which allows contributors to document their input into datasets and agree on the split and percentage of contributions at the onset. This mechanism enhances transparency while recognizing and protecting the contributions of local data producers as well as to effectively manage attribution in cases of participatory research.

Conclusion

The Nwulite Obodo Open Data License represents a thoughtful response to the complexities surrounding data sharing in Africa. Its focus on equitable access and documentation of contributions positions it as a potentially transformative tool in the realm of African datasets.

A significant benefit for African creators and developers is that the Nwulite Licence directly addresses their unique challenges, empowering them within the data-sharing ecosystem. It provides tailored licensing protections while supporting innovation that relies on African datasets. Prioritizing equitable access to datasets ensures that African voices and contributions are recognized and respected, moving beyond the one-size-fits-all approach seen in many existing licenses and, more so, the preservation of cultural integrity for the communities who contribute to the African data sets.

Feedback from the African AI developer and licensing community is actively being gathered through real-world testing, and contributions are welcome as the license is tested on practical use cases.

Credit: C. Okorie and M. Omino, Licensing African Datasets (2024), www.licensingafricandatasets.com