Huitsi {l Wrote}:It think they would sue me, not PeterX.
In this example, you have used a free licensed model to manufacture cars. You did nothing wrong, those CC0, CC-BY, GPL, etc. free licenses grant you the right and freedom to do that, so the manufacturer will loose the case in no time (in the USA at least, even a big money corp like Cisco lost against FSF). The manufacturer knows that, that's why they would attack the publishing of the model under those licenses, rather than attacking the usage of free licenses themselves.
Huitsi {l Wrote}:In any case, the question becomes whether any reasonable court would see things the way you do. I don't know the answer to that.
As for CC I know for a fact that in general (not applied to software specifically, see below) almost every country accepts that to some version at least.
Here's a detailed list by jurisdictions. This means if you can prove that you have used a CC licensed model for manufacturing, and that you haven't violated the terms and conditions of that CC license, then the jury in those countries will agree with me. As for countries not listed, who knows?
Now for GPL, you have a good chance in the USA and probably in the UK. In Europe it's a bit complicated, the
Software Directive (2009/24/EC) states that ideas and principles underlying any element of a computer program are not protected by copyright. However the final software product is protected, and any form of distribution to the public is the exclusive right of its author (which means the authors might choose the license however they wish, and if not allowed by the license, but you have a written permission from the author then you can distribute the software). There's also
EUPL (a specific European Public License for software), which incorporates many free licenses including GPL among others (but not CC).
For all the other free licenses (BSD, MIT etc.) and the acceptance of free licenses in other countries, I have no clue (but I'm no expert on international software law either, I only know my own country's laws and those countries which my former employer made business with).
Cheers,
bzt