Creative Commons Reply

The other day I received a reply from Neeru at the Creative Commons to the scenario which I posted here. Some folk were interested, so here's the reply:

The intention of the license is to give person X and Y a clear understanding of what terms they are agreeing to, hence the license, and the contract. The Creative Commons license carves out an exception to a full copyright, and is a contract that is agreed to by two people, and therefore, if used correctly, should stand up in court.

I'm not really sure what I think of this. On one hand, it sounds good and nice and fair and sensible. On the other, it seems awfully optimistic that everything will just work out for everybody. Perhaps it's just my complete lack of understanding about the law that makes it seem that way.

But I still wonder if the people (rightfully) taking advantage of the exceptions in copyright law specified by the licenses are going to wind up getting their asses handed to them at some point for taking it seriously.