Grants/Commercial Use in Social Media – a Comparative Legal Study
Describe the project you are proposing as clearly as possible in just five sentences.
The project will offer a legal definition to the term "commercial use" in the context of Israeli Intellectual Property law and CC Licenses based on a comparative legal study. The study will focus on the Social Media environment where the boundaries between commercial and non-commercial activities are blurred. The study will be carried out by mapping the current legal definitions as it is reflected among other thing in court decisions, legislation and academic scholarship.
Detail the tangible project output (e.g., paper, blog post, written materials, video/film, etc.; this would be in addition to the final written report that successful grant recipients will be expected to deliver to CC at the conclusion of the project).
The project will provide a policy paper and propose a working definition of commercial use in CC licenses that is consistent with Open Access objective and current laws. The policy paper will provide a comprehensive basis for legal interpretation of CC licensees in Israel will make it easier for institutions to adopt CC licenses.
Describe the community you are targeting. How would the project benefit the community?
A comprehensive definition of the term "commercial use" will assist in clarifying the uncertainty pertained to CC licenses and thereby reduce the chilling effect caused by this uncertainty.br />
CC Israel is working under the endorsement of HCLT in Haifa University, Faculty of Law.
The Haifa Center for Law and Technology (HCLT) is a renowned interdisciplinary research. It is the first and the only center in Israel dedicated to the study of the interconnection between law and technology. HCLT is based at the Faculty of Law, University of Haifa on the northern coast of Israel. The main goal of the center is to promote research activities in the fields of Law and Technology and Intellectual Property. HCLT further seeks to promote dialogue between academics, innovators, policymakers and businesses, to establish the scientific foundation for lawmaking to address new technologies.
How will you measure and evaluate your project’s impact - on your main participants? Other contributors? On the larger community?
We expect to see a reduction in the number of questions referred to the CC Israeli team regarding commercial use, and an increase in the number of private and public organizations adopting CC licenses.
How many participants do you expect to be involved in your project? How will you seek and sustain their involvement?
We expect 2-4 legal scholars and students to be involved in the project in HCLT. Most of the grant will be devoted to scholarships for students to support their involvement in the study.
Describe how your project will benefit Creative Commons' mission to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in "the commons".
Clarifying the commercial use clause will help individuals and organization to adopt CC licenses without fearing unpredictable restrictions on their prospective uses.
Describe what technologies and tools your project will use. What kinds of technical skills and expertise do you bring to the project? What are your technical needs?
Not relevant
What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them?
The comprehensive study requires advanced skills in comparative legal analysis and an intimate understanding of Social Media and the new social and business models. The team will consist of skilled students, with the relevant academic background, and hands-on experienced, supervised by faculty members expert in this area.
How do you plan to sustain your project after the Creative Commons funding has ended? Detail specific plans. How do you plan to raise revenue to continue your efforts in the future?
Additional grant applications will be submitted to local and international foundations to support this project. We also plan to apply to social media providers to collaborate in funding and professional knowledge.
How can this project be scalable, or have a scalable impact?
The policy paper based on a comparative legal study may provide a basis for further research of this issue in other jurisdictions using CC Licenses and in context others than Social Media.
What resources and support do you expect Creative Commons to provide to your project to ensure its success (if any)?
We hope to use CC resources for details related to current business models. Also, we hope that CC will consider adopting our findings and recommendations in the policy paper as part of its formal policy.
Describe how your organization currently communicates with its community members and network partners. (100 words)
CC Israel is working under the endorsement of HCLT. It is using the facilities of Haifa University and the members in CC Israel are students of the university. CC Israel operates its own independent website for the purpose of communicating with the community of activists and affiliates in Israel. HCLT scholars and students are participating in CC Israel activities since 2004 and keep on doing so. CC Israel keeps in touch with its former project leaders via email and in conferences or meetings.
Legal
Yes
