Thursday, May 26, 2005
Science, Creative Commons and Britney Spears
By David Kezio-Musoke
JOHANNESBURG-- FOR those who think the fireworks begin today, you have got it wrong. Two days ago, two pre-conference events were already paving the way for last night’s public launch of Creative Commons SA (ccSA) at the Rosebank Hotel here in Johannesburg. On Tuesday morning, a pre-conference workshop under the theme ‘Using Creative Commons (cc) to Licence Publicly-Funded Knowledge’, attracted about forty delegates from various Non-governmental Organisations (NGO’s). Later in the day, professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law school delivered a public lecture which he dubbed, ‘Innovation creativity and culture: Digital approaches to the commons’. Lessig and several colleagues came up with the concept of Creative Commons in 2001, as an alternative to increasingly restrictive copyright laws.
At the workshop, there was open discussion on how NGOs, libraries and governments can provide publicly funded knowledge under the cc licence. The workshop attracted a wide range of delegates including Anne Annriette, the Executive Director of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), David Bernard of Sangonet THETHA, cc South Africa’s Director, Heather Ford and cc’s legal lead Andrew Rens.
Rens has been at the forefront of developing of Creative Commons South Africa’s (ccSA) licences, sensitising lawyers in the country on the details of ccSA and adapting the concept to fit within South Africa’s legal framework. At the workshop Bernard talked about the importance of availing knowledge from publicly funded institutions, under the cc licence, while Ford discussed the challenges faced while promoting and using the cc licence.She said, “Using cc licences means that one will never make any money from his or her work, and that one is also opening oneself up to abuse by plagiarists.”
“But what does this mean for librarians, researchers and others? It means authors and users need to be aware of the effects of use and re-use.”
Ford added that publicly funded libraries would benefit from good quality, free content available that can be copied freely.
In his lecture, Lessig amused listeners with his explanation of the differences between the ‘non-exclusive rights economy’ and the ‘exclusive rights economy’, equating the former to the world of scientists and academics and the latter to the world of musicians such as Britney Spears.
Lessig, an authority on intellectual-property law said that while the ‘non-exclusive rights economy’ doesn’t need a monopoly to advance, but in the exclusive rights economy, copyright is exclusively regulated.
He said, “While scientists and academics have a legitimate obligation to provide their knowledge for others to build on, Britney Spears doesn’t have any legitimate obligation to provide her music to anyone. That is an ‘exclusive rights economy.’”
Ends
JOHANNESBURG-- FOR those who think the fireworks begin today, you have got it wrong. Two days ago, two pre-conference events were already paving the way for last night’s public launch of Creative Commons SA (ccSA) at the Rosebank Hotel here in Johannesburg. On Tuesday morning, a pre-conference workshop under the theme ‘Using Creative Commons (cc) to Licence Publicly-Funded Knowledge’, attracted about forty delegates from various Non-governmental Organisations (NGO’s). Later in the day, professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law school delivered a public lecture which he dubbed, ‘Innovation creativity and culture: Digital approaches to the commons’. Lessig and several colleagues came up with the concept of Creative Commons in 2001, as an alternative to increasingly restrictive copyright laws.
At the workshop, there was open discussion on how NGOs, libraries and governments can provide publicly funded knowledge under the cc licence. The workshop attracted a wide range of delegates including Anne Annriette, the Executive Director of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), David Bernard of Sangonet THETHA, cc South Africa’s Director, Heather Ford and cc’s legal lead Andrew Rens.
Rens has been at the forefront of developing of Creative Commons South Africa’s (ccSA) licences, sensitising lawyers in the country on the details of ccSA and adapting the concept to fit within South Africa’s legal framework. At the workshop Bernard talked about the importance of availing knowledge from publicly funded institutions, under the cc licence, while Ford discussed the challenges faced while promoting and using the cc licence.She said, “Using cc licences means that one will never make any money from his or her work, and that one is also opening oneself up to abuse by plagiarists.”
“But what does this mean for librarians, researchers and others? It means authors and users need to be aware of the effects of use and re-use.”
Ford added that publicly funded libraries would benefit from good quality, free content available that can be copied freely.
In his lecture, Lessig amused listeners with his explanation of the differences between the ‘non-exclusive rights economy’ and the ‘exclusive rights economy’, equating the former to the world of scientists and academics and the latter to the world of musicians such as Britney Spears.
Lessig, an authority on intellectual-property law said that while the ‘non-exclusive rights economy’ doesn’t need a monopoly to advance, but in the exclusive rights economy, copyright is exclusively regulated.
He said, “While scientists and academics have a legitimate obligation to provide their knowledge for others to build on, Britney Spears doesn’t have any legitimate obligation to provide her music to anyone. That is an ‘exclusive rights economy.’”
Ends
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