Union for the Public Domain

Twenty-five Nobel Prize winners have written an open letter in support of the U.S. Congress' recommendation to the National Institutes of Health that manuscripts reporting on work funded with public NIH dollars be made publicly available.

Full text here.

Slashdot reports:

"Citing concerns over materials being distributed to American students by the BSA, MPAA, and RIAA's evil minions, the American Library Association will begin distributing its own, more balanced material this winter. The material will deal with insignificant and oft-overlooked details like fair use. More information on Wired News.

Rob Thornton posts this newsflash to the upd-discuss list:

"Last week the Congressional
Budget Office released a report on Copyright Issues in Digital Media.... According to a New York Times opinion article, "The report upholds exactly the kind of evenhandedness that has been missing in much
copyright legislation so far."

Thanks Rob!

Andy Oram of O'Reilly books has just posted an interesting essay on piracy to the upd-discuss list. He makes the point that the pirates of old actually had some values we appreciate today--democracy, equality, freedom--and modern day "pirates" carry on this tradition.

Pirates...were more than just thieves. They
created an alternative way to regard work, society, and life's
pleasures in an economically and religiously repressive age....

Is it difficult to find a common thread between the villification of
eighteenth-century pirates and the villification of people who trade
or illegally sell music, moves, books, and software today? Like the
old pirates, the information traders create a bounty from the work of
others (the artists and writers). But at the same time, they create a
new vision of information democracy that contrasts positively with the
control freaks and commercial cynicism of the mainstream media
conglomerates.

The full essay is also available on the O'Reilly site.

UPD volunteer James Davis has done some sleuthing on http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk, the "Government-backed home of UK Intellectual Property on the Internet" that hopes "to bring you all the answers to your questions and all the resources you need to find your way through the IP jungle of Copyright, Designs, Patents and Trade Marks." He discovered that the site says very little about the public domain.

Although the government advises users on how to determine whether material is copyrighted and on copyright exceptions, and advises authors on how to prevent anyone from using material without permission, the site doesn't provide a definition of "public domain," let alone any info on how to release material for free use.

You can comment on these omissions by writing to The UK Patent Office at enquiries@patent.gov.uk.

Law professor Lawrence Lessig has a column in Wired describing how broadcasters wield control over speeches by government officials that should be in the public domain. The proposed WIPO broadcast treaty would strengthen this control. Lessig makes the further point that networks' ability to limit distribution of embarassing moments for politicians gives them an unfair competitive advantage that reinforces media concentration.

The US president owns neither his words nor his image - at least not when he speaks in public on important matters. Anyone is free to use what he says, and the way he says it, to criticize or to praise.... But what happens when the commander in chief uses private venues to deliver public messages, holding fewer press conferences and making more talk-show appearances? Who controls his words and images then?

The National Alliance for Autism Research has just give a major grant to Translational Genomics Research Institute to conduct a genetic analysis of families with kids who have autism. The findings will be released into the public domain. Biotech companies will then be able to use the research to competitively develop treatments.

From The Arizona Republic:

TGen, a not-for-profit research institute, will make its findings available to other researchers in the public domain. It does not plan to file a patent based on its findings.

"This is an altruistic endeavor," he said. "Someone needs to figure out what causes autism, and I'd rather it be us because we can be sure it's done right."

Link to TGen press release. (Thanks to James)

Slashdot reports that Reuters reports:

'That's All Right' Soon To Enter UK Public Domain

wlidtnet writes "Reuters is reporting that Elvis's "That's All Right"--currently an unlikely hit in Great Britain--is soon to enter the public domain in that country, followed by other milestones of popular music as Britain's fifty-year protection period comes to an end. Naturally, rights owners are outraged, regarding it as a "wakeup call" for Britain to adopt something similar to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, to end this "discrepancy between the United States and the EU." Copyright law uniformity has of course been a sore issue in recent years, with the exportation of "DMCA-alike" legislation raising the ire of many. Uniformity on an issue this divisive might be difficult to achieve politically."

Some interesting discussion on this has been happening on the UPD-discuss list.

The Union for the Public Domain (UPD) is a non-profit citizens group. Our mission is to protect and enhance the public domain in matters concerning intellectual property. We are a membership organization, acting as an independent voice on intellectual property issues.

We need your help! If you are interested in volunteering, please e-mail updinfo@public-domain.org. To sign up for our e-mail list, please go here. To see our old pages, please go here.