[A2k] Ars technica: Start 'em young: WIPO unviels children's copyright law workbook

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070926-wipo-tries-to-educate-
kids-about-copyright-with-surprisingly-fair-results.html

Start 'em young: WIPO unviels children's copyright law workbook

By Nate Anderson | Published: September 26, 2007 - 11:20PM CT

The World Intellectual Property Organization wants to educate you about
copyright. Well, not so much you as your 9 to 14-year old children, who
are the targets of a new 72-page workbook (PDF) filled with "colorful
examples" of copyright law in action. The most surprising thing about
the booklet? The fact that it devotes eight pages to coverage of the
public domain and other limitations on copyright.
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The booklet is called "Learn from the Past, Create the Future" and is
designed to be used in school classrooms. It's only available in
English at the moment, but Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and
Spanish versions are all coming. The book is peppered with amusing
(*cough*) games for kids to play, including "Clear the Rights," "Public
Domain Detective," and "Spot the Infringement."

Unlike Captain Copyright and similar past efforts to educate kids, the
WIPO document actually covers both sides of the equation. Public domain
works get several pages of explanation, though the booklet rightly
notes that finding something available for free on the Internet doesn't
mean it's in the public domain.

Fair use even gets some love. "National laws allow works protected by
copyright and related rights to be freely used in special situations,"
the booklet says. "In other cases, national laws allow works to be used
without asking the right holder for permission as long as he is
compensated for such use. Thanks to these copyright limitations, even
works that are not in the public domain can sometimes be used without
asking for permission or paying royalties to the author or other right
holders."

That's refreshing to see, but the approach is still not without its
critics. William Patry, senior copyright counsel at Google, praises the
balance shown by the document but questions the use of "Young Author"
profiles scattered throughout the book. The small snippets highlight
young authors from around the globe, apparently trying to make this
issue relevant for the booklet's target audience. But Patry wonders if
"the idea of transference [could] be at play, a desire to have children
identify with young authors their own age (or others they are told they
'admire') and then transfer that identification to multinational
corporate copyright owners? I don't defend piracy if defined as
counterfeiting, but I think we have to be very careful not to
manipulate young children under the guise of educating them."

Still, even Patry admits that WIPO "has made a genuine effort to
present a balanced view." Given the criticism the group comes up for
when it overreaches in favor of copyright owners, it's only fair to pat
them on the back when such issues are handled with more fairness.


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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org