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| Issues on Intellectual Property Rights
“All Rights Reserved” when it comes to books, magazines, CDs and websites, even every song, every page, every image. For the person who publishes, protecting their Intellectual Property (IP) has become a huge headache. If we put together all the money that has changed hands as a result of IP lawsuits, we may just be able to end world hunger and give everyone a little spare change to play with too. Why this obsession with protection? The reason, of course, is theft. As most everyone knows, IP theft has grown rapidly since the advent of the Internet. At present, the IP arena appears to be roughly separated into two: those who want to protect property, and those who want to steal it. However, there has now emerged a new division, a middle path, if you may. The Creative Commons (CC) is an organisation that strives to use private rights to create public goods. They work to offer creators of content a best-of-both-worlds way to protect their works while encouraging the positive use (and reuse) of them. Writers, artists, musicians, performers - everyone can benefit by releasing their work under a Creative Commons Licence. Bridging the distance between the two extreme realms of Copyright (all rights reserved) and Public Domain (no rights reserved), the project is geared at protecting the rights of the creator while also ensuring that the work is used in as many productive ways as possible. The level of freedom granted by the license is under the complete control of the author. With a CC Licence, you have the ability to choose what you want to distribute, and when, and how. Finally, it seems, there is a licence that’s based on the creators’ terms. The catch, you ask? There isn't one, really. The licensing of content under a Creative Commons Licence can be done free of charge via their website. That's right no lawyer fees, no legalese to read just fill out a simple web form and you're done. Log on to the CC website at http://creativecommons.org
for more information on how you can set your creativity free. |
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