Copyright and Copy left Issues. -R

In a project such as ours where we need to mix and meld different multimedia streams into themed 'mashups', one of the main antagonists to creativity is having to dance across various copyright legalities. A perturbance for individual bloggers and an absolute minefield for educational institutions. When an axe falls it can be very heavy...

'Information wants to be free' of course, but how do we realistically dialogue with issues of Patent Rights and Intellectual Property. Historically it can be argued that patent rights have done more to restrain innovation than industrial espionage. The Wright Brothers for example patented the bloody aeroplane! As a consequence no aeronautics happened apart from what the Bros did. Come WW1 and the President cancelled the entire patent system for aeronautical R&D. The contemporary consequence being that the likes of Boeing, Lockheed Martin etc rose to positions of global prominence. This is a fascinating lecture.

Alfred Deakin Innovation Lectures, Melbourne 29 December 2007

"Are we missing out on the full benefits of science and technology because of outdated ideas about copyright and patenting? Could the key to feeding the world be locked up in a company fridge somewhere? Open-source software has transformed the internet, underpinning the phenomenal growth of Google, Ebay and YouTube. What can science learn from this revolution? In our rush to protect intellectual property, have we damaged our capacity to deliver solutions for the critical issues of the 21st century?
In this lecture, John Wilbanks, Executive Director of Science Commons at Harvard Law School, will describe how existing social and legal infrastructures are choking science, and how we can create new ways to share research. Brian Fitzgerald, Head of the Law School at Queensland University of Technology, will discuss the success of open source in the information technology world, and the lessons for other fields of science." [source abc.net.au/rn]



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http://www.ourmedia.org/media/alfred-deakin-innovation-lectures-melbourne-2007