[License-discuss] License question

[Stefan Kuhn]

Apologies for the html mail, here is plain text.

Hi all,
apologies if this is not the right list to ask. I have a situation where 
I am not sure if there is an open source licence which does what I want. 
I have a database which serves as the base for algorithms infer 
conclusions from it. Some of these algorithms are well known, but there 
is still innovation in the area. Without the data though it is pointless 
or impossible to write algorithms. Larger collections of such data are 
not common and cannot easily be built. I would like to publish my 
database under an open source licence and I would want to things to be 
enforced: a) derived versions of the database (extended, error corrected 
etc.) must be under the same licence again (this could be done by using 
the Open Data Commons Open Database License, I think) and b) software 
incorporating the database must be under an open source licence as well. 
The second bit is the tricky one, I think. Is there a solution to this 
or is the whole idea rubbish? I want to make sure that people do not 
just take my database, put a well known algorithm round it and sell it. 
I think this is a reasonable idea, but I am unsure if it could be 
enforced via a licence.
Do you have any ideas about this? Please tell me if you believe my 
thinking is flawed.
Thanks,
Stefan