Archive for the ‘Free Culture’ Category
Alfred Deakin Innovation Lectures: The Creative Commons
Update:
Kim Weatherall has her perspective on the lecture. (Kim’s a lecturer at my school.)
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I went to a public lecture today, when I really should’ve been at home trying to complete a Property Law assignment due tomorrow (statutory interpretation of the Native Title Act…gah).
Creative Commons: A desert amidst the oases
Kim Weatherall of Weatherall’s Law points to the launching of the Creative Commons License in Australia.
Go to the Creative Commons website and check out the jurisdiction-specific licences that they have crafted. Among the countries listed are China, Taiwan and Japan. Where is Singapore?
For all the talk about ‘intellectual property’ and enforcement of rights, this is where Singapore should really be investing time and energy in. ‘Intellectual property’ is not the same as physical property. Ideas and expressions are non-excludable and non-rivalrous. Meaning to say, that a person using another person’s idea (note that I’m say USE, not TAKE CREDIT FOR) can benefit from that idea without depriving anyone else of using that idea, or selling that idea.
More importantly, innovation and creativity are achieved through collaboration and building upon the ideas of others. Extending and expanding copyright laws make no economic sense: such actions are inherently protectionist and increases the barriers to trade.
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For an example I have uploaded two songs to my radio blog. The first song, ‘My Life’ by Colin Mutchler, was submitted by the musician into an open sound archive under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
The second song, ‘My Life Changed’, is ‘My Life’ plus a violin track. The thing is, Cora Beth, the violinist, had never met Colin before. Neither did they plan this collaboration.
Now, the latest incarnation is ‘My Life Changed Completely’(mpg/wmv), a music video with vocals and lyrics added on. Anyone else apart from me see where creativity comes from?
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The internet acts like an idea exchange, allocating resources efficiently. Extending and expanding copyright laws is tantamount to increasing taxes, setting a price floor and distorting the market. The internet allows for unprecedented collaboration on a global scale. For people who truly believe in the free market and free trade, this is the direction of the future.
A Singapore specific CC license cannot be done without some institution (such as a university) or organisation (NGO) being involved. If I had the legal expertise, I would have volunteered myself a long time ago. Too bad no lawyer in Singapore seems interested in such a project. If anyone with expertise in Singapore IP laws wish to take this up, here’s a little primer on how the Creative Commons works.
PS: Kim actually lectures at University of Melbourne Law School, teaching Internet Law and Trademark Law. I taking her Internet Law class in Semester 2.
Australian IT - Commons simplifies net rights (Jennifer Foreshew, JANUARY 18, 2005) via Weatherall’s Law
Creative Commons - An Opsound Exchange
