Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 17, No. 196.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
www.princeton.edu/humanist/
Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 06:38:37 +0100
From: sarah@ninch.org
Subject: a call for public domain stories
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
August 21, 2003
STRUGGLES WITH IP LAW
A Call for Stories in Support of a Robust Public Domain
Public Knowledge, Creative Commons, and The Center for the Study of the
Public Domain Collaborate on a Public Education Campaign
http://www.publicknowledge.org
From: "Ann Deville" <adeville@publicknowledge.org>
Please accept our apologies for resending this email, but it was brought to
our attention that an incorrect email address was provided within the body
of the document. Public domain stories should be emailed to
<mailto:pk@publicknowledge.org>pk@publicknowledge.org NOT
<mailto:pk@publicknowledge.com>pk@publicknowledge.com. Thanks once again
for your interest.
***********************************************************************
Copied below are details of the collaboration between Public Knowledge,
Creative Commons, and The Center for the Study of the Public Domain on a
public-education campaign that will document creators' positive or negative
experiences with current copyright,trademark and/or patent laws. We're
interested in hearing from artists, filmmakers, musicians, computer
programmers and anyone who has been hampered by restrictive intellectual
property laws or assisted by the public domain. The stories will play an
important role in demonstrating the need for policy change.
We'd love it if you'd help us distribute the call--please forward it to
anyone who may be interested, post it on appropriate mailing lists,
use it in newsletters, insert it into bottles and cast them to sea or
anyway you'd like.
Information on how to participate is included.
Thank you for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you.
************************************************************************
STRUGGLES WITH IP LAW
A Call for Stories in Support of a Robust Public Domain
We know you've got a great story, and we want you to tell it.
Public Knowledge, Creative Commons, and The Center for the Study of the
Public Domain are collaborating on a public-education campaign that will
highlight the struggles of creators with intellectual property law. We are
collecting stories of citizens who are hampered by restrictive intellectual
property laws. If you have a personal story of copyright, trademark or
patent laws needlessly hindering your work and ideas, we want to hear from
you. Conversely, if your work has benefited from the availability of art
and information
in the public domain, we want to know about it.
We'd like to hear stories from artists, authors, musicians, filmmakers,
computer programmers, entrepreneurs, librarians - or anyone with a personal
story involving intellectual property law. Your stories are important
because American copyright, trademark and patent law, grounded in Article I
of the Constitution, are designed to promote individual creativity and
innovation: we need to make sure they're functioning in this way.
Unfortunately, the recent expansion of intellectual property laws has had
the opposite effect. New laws are discouraging creativity and innovation
rather than encouraging it, and stifling other important values such as
freedom of speech. Longer copyright terms, the end of copyright
registration requirements, stronger trademark laws and the expansion of
patent eligibility are some of the changes that have spurred this trend.
When intellectual property laws curtail creativity, we need to be creative
in a different way by pushing for changes in the laws, ensuring that they
are interpreted more narrowly, and working to change a culture in which
large copyright and patent owners seek to extract large fees for even the
most incidental use of their work. None of these changes will take place
unless we can demonstrate that there is a need for change. Policymakers can
be educated about these issues, but in order to make the case, we need your
contribution.
Maybe you are a filmmaker who has been told to pay a large licensing fee
for a four second snippet of a copyrighted work. Or the director of a
community orchestra who cannot afford to play any new music. Or maybe
you're a writer who has taken the works of Margaret Mitchell, Dickens or
Shakespeare and created successful derivative works. Perhaps you are an
artist who has used commercial images like the Campbell's Soup can. We need
your stories to embody the problems and successes of copyright, trademarks
and patents for the general public.
Please email your story to
<mailto:pk@publicknowledge.org>pk@publicknowledge.org with "Public Domain
Stories" in the header. We'll present your stories to legislators, press
and the general public through a website, video and other media. Please
provide your name and a phone number where we can reach you during the day
and tell us if you would prefer to remain anonymous when we publish your story.
Your story can help others to understand how access to ideas and creativity
is being locked up by needlessly restrictive new laws. Questions? Comments
or suggestions? Give us a call at (202) 518-0020 or email us
<mailto:pk@publicknowledge.org>pk@publicknowledge.org.
********************************************************************************
Public Knowledge is a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to ensure
that copyright, patent, trademark and technology laws and policies promote
the interests of the public. This Washington, D.C.-based group works with a
wide spectrum of stakeholders, including libraries, educators, scientists,
artists, musicians, journalists, consumers, programmers, civic groups and
enlightened businesses, to promote certain fundamental democratic
principles and cultural values - openness, access, and the capacity to
create and compete - and to ensure these principles are reaffirmed in the
digital age.
For more information, see
<http://www.publicknowledge.org>http://www.publicknowledge.org.
Creative Commons, a non-profit corporation, promotes the creative re-use of
intellectual works whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the
generous support of The Center for the Public Domain and the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford
Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school's
Center for Internet and Society. For more information, see
www.creativecommons.org.
The Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School was
founded in September of 2002, as part of the schools' wider intellectual
property program. Its mission is to promote research and scholarship on the
contributions of the public domain to speech, culture, science and
innovation, to promote debate about the balance needed in our intellectual
property system and to translate academic research into public policy
solutions. For more information, see
<http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/index.html>http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/index.html.
--NINCH-Announce is an announcement listserv, produced by the National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH). The subjects of announcements are not the projects of NINCH, unless otherwise noted; neither does NINCH necessarily endorse the subjects of announcements. We attempt to credit all re-distributed news and announcements and appreciate reciprocal credit. For questions, comments or requests to un-subscribe, contact the editor: <mailto:sarah@ninch.org> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- See and search back issues of NINCH-ANNOUNCE at <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/NINCH-ANNOUNCE/>.
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