Copyright Visionaries -- Or Rebels Without A Cause?

attended the get-go of 3 Copy-art.net talks inwards the Digital Studio of the Institute of Contemporary Arts last night. The speaker, Irini-Mirena Papadimitriou, is Curator of the copyright-free artwork on Copy-art.net's website. She is effectively also the guardian of a precious spell of online infinite inwards which artists too site visitors tin communicate, interact too inspire each other. Artists who accept contributed their operate to this experiment include Reza Aramesh, Miltos Manetos and Carey Young (whose contribution is a collection of anonymous photographs which he found inwards a box too handed over for costless downloading). was quite impressed alongside the possibilities for dialogue too interaction which Copy-art.net, supported past times the Arts Council, tin provide. He feels yet that Copy-art.net's mental attitude towards copyright is ambivalent, to say the least. the site's promotional textile states that

"Submitted plant tin live downloaded, changed, distributed, exhibited too used past times all visitors for free".

However,

"Only commercial utilisation is excluded, equally all plant are registered alongside Creative Commons nether a non-commercial license".

Since it is to a greater extent than oftentimes than non commercial utilisation of the operate of others that leads artists too designers into threats of unwanted litigation, too most non-commercial copyright is probable to live undetected, the exclusion of commercial utilisation is disappointing. What's more, it tin hardly live said that a copyright-free site that bars visitors from making utilisation of the plant displayed for commercial purposes

"intends to challenge the catch of intellectual belongings too exam its limits inwards a copyright-free zone".

Having said all that, the give-and-take that followed Irini-Mirena's introductory comments was lively, interesting too unusually well-informed. Those attention included artists, copyright lawyers, intellectual belongings researchers too fifty-fifty a sociologist; the give-and-take was never likewise technical for participants to plunge inwards too either inquire their questions or soil their credos.

Subjects discussed alongside varying degrees of passion included (i) whether Creative Commons was a threat to the copyright institution or simply a device to newspaper over its cracks; (ii) whether Creative Commons was primarily of legal significance or whether it was an economical device for reducing the transactional costs of finding out if yous were virtually to infringe individual else's copyright or not; (iii) what business office could live played past times Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems inwards either integrating Creative Commons into regular network utilisation or inwards suppressing access to data too (iv) whether artists were indeed badly treated past times the existing copyright legal regime.

Two to a greater extent than talks volition live hosted past times Copy-art.net at the ICA earlier its exhibition finishes on 3 October. They are given by

* Szuper Gallery and Gavin Wade (Thursday xvi September) and

* Anna Best, Abigail Reynolds, A K Dolven, Miltos Manetas, Per Hüttner, e-2.org and Daniel McClean, co-author of Dear Images: art, copyright too civilization (Thursday 29 September).

says it's worth a visit, for the convivial give-and-take too the provocative thoughts.