Difference between revisions of "World Intellectual Property Day"

From Creative Commons
Jump to: navigation, search
(Creative Commons: Encouraging Creativity: remove extra words)
(remove more extra text)
Line 7: Line 7:
 
==Creative Commons: Encouraging Creativity==
 
==Creative Commons: Encouraging Creativity==
  
Copyright protects creators by giving them certain exclusive rights 
+
===Background===
to their creations. As a general rule, copyright automatically 
 
attaches to creative and expressive works once they are fixed in 
 
tangible form. In other words, the minute you put pen to paper, brush 
 
to easel, hit the "save" button on your computer, the "send" button 
 
on your email, or take a photo, you have created a copyright 
 
protected work.
 
  
 
The advent of the digital revolution and the Internet presents an
 
The advent of the digital revolution and the Internet presents an
Line 25: Line 19:
 
example, remixes and mash-ups.
 
example, remixes and mash-ups.
  
Globalization is not only happening on 
 
the corporate level, its effects can also be observed in the areas of 
 
science and education and in other sectors of society where new 
 
models of fruitful cooperation have appeared.
 
 
Wikipedia and the free and open source software community are   
 
Wikipedia and the free and open source software community are   
 
examples of these sociological and economic phenomena. The activities   
 
examples of these sociological and economic phenomena. The activities   
Line 55: Line 45:
 
rules, but also burdensome technical barriers, many will either   
 
rules, but also burdensome technical barriers, many will either   
 
ignore the rules or not create.
 
ignore the rules or not create.
 +
 +
===Creative Commons===
  
 
Our alternative is to provide creators and licensors with a simple   
 
Our alternative is to provide creators and licensors with a simple   
Line 69: Line 61:
 
Creative Commons' legal tools let creators mix and match license   
 
Creative Commons' legal tools let creators mix and match license   
 
terms that reflect their personal preferences.
 
terms that reflect their personal preferences.
 +
 +
===Encouraging Creativity===
  
 
==Learn More==
 
==Learn More==

Revision as of 09:04, 21 April 2007

World Intellectual Property Day is observed April 26th. "Encouraging Creativity" is the theme for 2007.

The following article addresses this theme from a Creative Commons perspective.

Please spread: PDF version (forthcoming) and translations.

Creative Commons: Encouraging Creativity

Background

The advent of the digital revolution and the Internet presents an opportunity for an enormous and unprecedented stimulation of creativity and production of knowledge. As more and more people are interconnected and communicating, it becomes easier to obtain exactly the content one needs or want and to complete tasks and solve problems by the cooperation this interconnection enables. The convergence of technologies and media also create multiple new possibilities for creating derivatives of existing works – for example, remixes and mash-ups.

Wikipedia and the free and open source software community are examples of these sociological and economic phenomena. The activities of many contributors to projects in these areas are not motivated by the desire to gain (immediate) financial benefit but by the desire to learn, to get recognition, and also to help others.

These new technologies can also be used to violate the rights of copyright owners as they are currently defined. In turn, major rights holders have reacted to this with a fourfold strategy: (a) by trying to prevent the deployment of technologies that can be put to infringing uses; (b) by developing tools that enable them to manage their rights with an amount of precision hitherto unknown and unthinkable: digital rights management and technological protection measures against unauthorized copying; (c) by successfully lobbying for support of these technological measures through legal restrictions; and, (d) by starting huge publicity campaigns designed to teach young people that they must keep their hands off copyrighted material – or else.

These responses are understandable, if regrettable. Our concern is that their combined effect will be to stifle the opportunities for digital technologies to be used widely to encourage creativity and for the problem solving and collaboration discussed above. If creators and licensors have to negotiate not only complicated legal rules, but also burdensome technical barriers, many will either ignore the rules or not create.

Creative Commons

Our alternative is to provide creators and licensors with a simple way to say what freedoms they want their creative work to carry. This in turn makes it easy to share, or build upon creative work. It makes it possible for creators and licensors to reserve some rights while releasing others. This, at its core, is our mission. Copyright gives authors certain rights. We want to make it simpler for authors to exercise those rights in ways others can understand.

Creative Commons is a voluntary "some rights reserved to copyright." The system empowers creators to use copyright law to enable a new creativity that has been given rise to by digital technology. Creative Commons' legal tools let creators mix and match license terms that reflect their personal preferences.

Encouraging Creativity

Learn More

Visit http://creativecommons.org

Translations

To start a translation, click on one of the following links, or create a new one for your language. (You must register and confirm your account via email before editing this wiki.)