The Culture vs. Copyright Project seeks to create an environment where artists are free to create and be compensated based on their talent, brilliance and the significance of their work. This requires unrestricted access to any and all cultural phenomena. These freedoms are crucial for the contemporary knowledge-based economy and social life. The book Culture vs. Copyright is only the beginning. It is the baseline research of the true impact of the “exclusive Right to … Writings and Discoveries” on “the Progress of Science and useful Arts” (US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8). In order to further our goal, it is necessary to do the following:
Research:
- Analysis of existing laws and treaties in the field (for instance, the DMCA, COICA, ACTA, etc). The best method, in our view, is scenario/multi-factor modeling.
- Research of the historical events around the inception of copyright laws around the world (for example, the state of the publishing market before and after the Statute of Anne, or the first French, or American copyright laws, etc.)
- Study of the destructive properties of exclusive rights on the free market economy.
- Analysis and clarification of the relationship between exclusive rights and political, social, legal and economic concepts.
- Tell us your story! Collection and analysis of real life stories which show the effects of open and closed licenses on authors’ incentives.
- The gathering of statistics about artwork sales dynamics, depending on licenses.
Authors’ Support:
- Develop a legal framework based on the Authoright license, which gives authors the ability to establish the correct relationships between the public and their work within the current legal systems.
- A repository of authorighted works