ORG Issue: Public Domain

The public domain contains intellectual works that can be used by anyone without lawful restriction. Public domain material includes works in which intellectual property rights (IPRs) have expired (eg Shakespeare’s plays) and ideas, which do not qualify for protection (eg the theory of relativity). The richness of the public domain helps future creators “stand on the shoulders of giants”. But it is under threat from those who would expand the term and scope of IPRs.

Latest Public Domain news

Make sure MEPs hear your views on copyright term extension - get in touch today

Posted by Gavin on October 7th, 2008 in categories Copyright, Intellectual Property, Public Domain, Release The Music No Comments »

The European Parliament has begun preparing its opinion on the European Commission’s flawed proposal to extend the term of copyright protection for sound recordings. MEPs have been appointed to act as rapporteurs, who will guide the committees that will recommend how Parliament should vote. Your MEPs need to know that their voters are concerned [...]

Performers likely to get as little as 50¢ a year from increased term of copyright

Posted by Becky on September 5th, 2008 in categories Copyright, Public Domain, Release The Music 10 Comments »

Commission adviser accuses Barroso of intentionally misleading European policy-makers and citizens on copyright

Posted by Becky on August 21st, 2008 in categories Copyright, Public Domain, Release The Music 5 Comments »

When the European Commission put forward their proposal to retrospectively extend the copyright term granted to sound recordings, locking away vast swathes of our cultural heritage in a commercial vacuum for 45 years, it was clear that they had rejected all the expert evidence in favour of voodoo economics.
Now Professor Bernt Hugenholtz has written a [...]

EU Commission proposes copyright term extension and ignores all the evidence

Posted by Gavin on July 16th, 2008 in categories Copyright, Intellectual Property, Public Domain, Release The Music 7 Comments »

Disregarding the evidence-based findings of their own advisors, the UK government’s independent analysis, and those of Europe’s leading intellectual property research centres, the EU Commission has formally accepted DG Internal Market’s proposal to extend the duration of copyright protection for sound recordings.
Copyright term is a quid pro quo, designed to balance the interests of consumers [...]

Term Extension “will damage Commission’s reputation”, top legal advisers tell Barroso

Posted by Gavin on June 18th, 2008 in categories Copyright, Intellectual Property, Public Domain, Release The Music 5 Comments »

Today, the leading European centres for intellectual property research have released a joint letter to EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, enclosing an impact assessment detailing the far-reaching and negative effects of the proposal to extend the term of copyright in sound recordings. With the confusion and disillusionment of Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty [...]

Copyright commotions 101: Free event at LSE next month

Posted by Becky on February 15th, 2008 in categories Conferences, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Public Domain, Release The Music 4 Comments »

When the government mailed half the nation’s bank details to the darknet at the end of last year, it looked like 2008 was going to be the year privacy issues hit the headlines. But, when it comes to digital rights stories, privacy has been seeing stiff competition from that old foe of the digital society: [...]

CBDE special guests announced

Posted by Suw Charman on February 6th, 2008 in categories Copyright, Creative Commons, Intellectual Property, ORG Events, Public Domain No Comments »

Update: David Bausola of Imagination (www.imagination.com) and Rob Myers - the conceptual engineers behind the commercial media production model that uses Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike as in Ford of Europe’s Where are the Joneses? - will both be joining Tom and John (see below) for our panel Q&A at the Monday seminar
Over the last few [...]

Creative Business in the Digital Era

Posted by Suw Charman on October 22nd, 2007 in categories Copyright, Intellectual Property, ORG News, Public Domain 2 Comments »

The Open Rights Group, in collaboration with 01zero-one and funded by the London Development Agency, is beginning an exciting new research project, examining how the internet enables creative entrepreneurs to develop innovative business practices by being more open with their intellectual property. Creative Business in the Digital Era will examine new business models and the [...]

Independent review calls for better access to public sector information

Posted by Becky on June 7th, 2007 in categories Copyright, Intellectual Property, Public Domain 4 Comments »

This morning sees the release of The Power of Information, an independent review, commissioned by Hilary Armstrong MP at the Cabinet Office, into “state- and citizen-generated information”. The report, authored by Tom Steinberg (MySociety) and Ed Mayo (National Consumer Council), calls for the government to thoroughly examine the economic case for keeping some public sector [...]

Gowers Review

The Gowers Review, commissioned by the government to look at intellectual property law in the United Kingdom, published its final report today. It was commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown MP so it is expected that the report will hold a lot of weight and that its recommendations will be followed. We [...]