Perhaps surprisingly for some, data and databases are not a 'rights free' area where no intellectual property rights apply. Open Data Commons was started to provided free and open source software and Creative Commons style licensing solutions for data -- open data. The legal tools being developed have implications both in terms of open access to scientific research and in enabling the semantic web. This talk will discuss the Open Data Commons legal tool -- the Public Domain Dedication and Licence -- and place this work within the greater context of open access and new generations of web tools.