[A2k] Open business opportunism

[Ronaldo Lemos]

--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Hi Professor Story, just to clarify my response at the A2K3 panel.

I said that IP laws would be very important as soon as the cultural scenes
emerging globally regardless of IP incentives start to use other networks,
such as cell phones and the internet. I then explained that the reason I
believe they will be important is precisely to make sure that it is possible
to replicate the same conditions under which they operate right now (the
conditions of "openness") in their own contexts inside these other digital
networks, for instance, by means of the usage of CC or other copyleft
license.

Accordingly, the proposal is not to restore the same old use of IP once this
cultural production becomes widespread in other networks, but it is
precisely to make sure that the same openness secured by *de facto
*circumstances
where these cultural scenes emerge can be translated into legal terms when
they migrate to other more formal networks.

It is important to consider that the Trips agreement is here to stay
(developing countries would not take the risk of being penalized under the
WTO because of IP rights non-compliance), and that the IP default rules of
copyright (everything is protected, unless you legally state that it is not
protected) will apply regardless of the opinion we might have about them.

Best regards from Rio de Janeiro,

Ronaldo



On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 3:42 PM, Alan Story <A.C.Story@kent.ac.uk> wrote:

>
> Journalist Kaitlin Mara missed a very revealing set of comments in her
> reportage on the open business panel at the A2K3 conference last week in
> Geneva ( "Open Business Systems Fill Gap in Mainstream Entertainment
> Industry" in Intellectual Property Watch, 12 September; posted on the A2K
> list 15 September.)
>
> The three speakers at this session ---- Case and Lemos from Brazil, Igwe
> from Nigeria --- had given us many examples of how both the Brazilian
> tecnobrega music scene and the Nigerian "Nollywood" film industry had
> grown, spread, and prospered over the past decade by ignoring copyright
> laws. In fact, in the case of Nollywood ---- now worth more than US $200
> million a year ---- "piracy built our market," explained film producer
> Igwe.
>
> So, asked a questioner right at the end of the session --- I am afraid I
> don't know his name ---.now that your two industries are so popular and
> doing very well, do you see a future role for intellectual property in
> these two industries?
>
> Oh yes, replied Lemos. He said he hoped that such Brazilian music will be
> used in various forms of new technology, such as mobile telephones, and
> copyright law protection would be very useful here.
>
> Film producer Igwe echoed this view. He said Nigerian film producers would
> soon begin discussions with copyright officials in that country to
> formulate some new copyright laws that would be useful for Nollywood.
>
> The responses of Lemos and Igwe remind me of how the government of the
> United States of America has acted towards foreign owned copyright during
> its history.
>
> In the 19th century, when the USA was a young and growing country and
> badly in need of English language materials, it had no hesitations in
> ignoring foreign-owned copyrights. The works of the well-known English
> novelist Charles Dickens were a favourite of the US "pirates."
>
> But once the USA became top of the world copyright heap --- today it
> exports far more copyrighted works than any other country in the world ---
> no country has been more shrill in the call to " crack down on those nasty
> pirates. "
>
> Perhaps some in the A2K "movement" may agree that it is perfectly proper
> to take what we could call a "pragmatic attitude" to national and global
> intellectual property laws.
>
> Ignore them when you don't need them and, in fact, build up your consumer
> base by encouraging piracy. Then when you get to the top of your own
> particular heap, advocate the use of strong copyright laws to consolidate
> your position and your profits.
>
> Some would label this as the oldest marketing tactic in the world: "make
> sure you take advantage of a good business opportunity." The rest of us
> would label it simply as "open business opportunism."
>
> Alan Story
> Kent Law School,
> Canterbury, UK
> Chairperson, The Copy South Research Group
>
>
> ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
> For identification only:
>
> Alan Story
> Senior Lecturer, Intellectual Property Law
> Kent Law School
> University of Kent
> Canterbury Kent
> United Kingdom      CT2 7NS
> acs3@kent.ac.uk
> Phone: +44 (0)1227 823316
>
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