Washington Declaration on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest

At American University, we recently hosted an amazing gathering of about 170 thoughtful experts on intellectual property law from around the world to chart policy proposals that would make intellectual property law better serve its role in society. This inaugural Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest discussed and debated a range of policy initiatives that would better adapt and rebalance the rights and obligations of rightsholders and the public.

There are many feasible opportunities, but recently, the attention of some policymakers has been turned toward misguided or ham-handed enforcement proposals.  So, it's time to change the conversation.  Please help by signing the Washington Declaration on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest.



http://infojustice.org/washington-declaration
http://infojustice.org/washington-declaration-html

YouTube and Creative Commons

So, this blog has been dormant for some time.  I've been swamped, but it's time to get back to business.  Here's a short post just to make sure not to let this development go unmentioned by me.  YouTube has embedded the ability for users to license their videos under the CC Attribution Only license (a.k.a. CC BY)! Details here. Already a repository of more than 10,000 videos under this license are available.

From the day Creative Commons launched, we've sought to work with companies that provide content platforms to embed CC licensing as a choice for creators who want a different deal than the one that all-rights-reserved copyright law offers.  It's been a long time coming, and I'm personally grateful to the staff at CC and at Google for making this happen.

The CC By license allows others to translate, mash-up, or otherwise adapt these videos as long as credit is given as directed by the copyright owner.  I hope that the creative folks out there make use of the freedom that the CC license offers.  Stay tuned . . . .