CC-India Discussion List

[Pranesh Prakash <pranesh AT cis-india.org>]

Savithri, Moksh, and Gautam are quoted in this report.  Does anyone on this 
list know Amoghavarsha, CV Sathyan, Gowree Gokhale, or Anand Gandhi 
personally?  We should invite them, and Sandhya Soman and Lubna Kably, to 
join this list.

I'd especially like to reach out to Anand Gandhi and point out that if he 
wishes people to have the freedom of editing and re-sharing, then a 
relatively open licence, like one of the CC licences, would be required.  I'm 
not sure if "That perhaps is why award-winning filmmaker Anand Gandhi did not 
opt for a CC licence" was an interpretation by the reporters, or if that's 
what Anand Gandhi said.

http://goo.gl/DHhWlE

=====

Creativity goes common
Sandhya Soman & LUBNA KABLY,TNN | Jan 26, 2014, 06.39 AM IST

It took wildlife photographer and filmmaker Amoghavarsha long hours and some 
fancy high-speed photography to capture the graceful river terns flying down 
to snap up minnows from the waters of Bhadra. But despite all the effort that 
went into its making, he chose to make his documentary, River Terns of 
Bhadra, freely available in the public domain. It has been released under a 
Creative Commons (CC) Licence. 

"As a student, I was part of the Free and Open Source Software movement. 
Opting for CC was a natural progression," says the filmmaker. 

"Sharing", under a CC Licence, resonates with the free knowledge movement. A 
growing tribe of publishers, musicians, photographers and academics is 
choosing to share their work for free. Amoghavarsha points out that his 
photograph of a rare freshwater jellyfish was useful to a scientific 
researcher submitting a white paper. 

In view of this trend, the India chapter of Creative Commons was relaunched 
two months ago by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), in collaboration 
with Wikimedia India and Acharya Narendra Dev College. 

In 2007, filmmaker CV Sathyan, perhaps one of the earliest adopters of the CC 
movement, released his painstakingly created documentary to the public. It 
had taken him two years to capture the rebel spirit of noted Malayalam poet A 
Ayyappan to create Ithrayum Yathabhagom (The Journey Thus Far). The film is 
freely available in the archives of a website. "I made it not for money but 
to raise the humaneness of people," says Sathyan. 

Every CC licence ensures that creators get the credit for their work. But it 
need not be a free-for-all situation - there are six variations of licensing 
permutations possible such as 'share-alike', 'non-commercial', and 'no 
derivatives'. 

'Share alike' enables others to remix, tweak, and build upon an original work 
provided the new creation is also released under identical CC terms. This 
usage of CC licence is quite popular among budding musicians. 'No derivates' 
means usage is possible without any changes to the original work. 

"Releasing one's work under a CC licence doesn't imply that you are letting 
go of the right to earn money. It merely helps you to reach a larger 
audience," says Moksh Juneja, head, Wikimedia India. 

But advocate Gowree Gokhale, partner at law firm Nishith Desai Associates, 
cautions: "Those who opt for the CC licence need to have a clear 
understanding of its implications, especially because it is worldwide, 
perpetual and irrevocable (unless the licence terms are breached)." 

That perhaps is why award-winning filmmaker Anand Gandhi did not opt for a CC 
licence. But last week he did make his acclaimed Ship of Theseus freely 
available online. "We have about 18,000 downloads. We are planning to further 
upload 25 hours of raw sync footage that can be downloaded, edited and 
reshared, especially by young film-makers," says Gandhi. However, free 
sharing has its limits. "Films are incredibly expensive to make and some 
money should be directed back to the makers," adds Gandhi. 

CC licences best serve their purpose in the altruistic academic world. "India 
produces a lot of educational content. But what is the use if one can't 
freely translate English textbooks into regional languages?" asks Savithri 
Singh, principal of Acharya Narendra Dev College. 

Pratham Books, a Bangalore-based publisher, continues to use CC licences for 
its children books. "Traditional publishers thought we were crazy," says 
Gautam John, adviser, Pratham Books. But use of CC licences has surpassed 
Pratham's expectations of reaching out to children. "We are getting new 
readers with every book in the public domain," says John. The 500 titles with 
CC licences, in fact, outsell the rest.

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society
T: +91 80 40926283 | W: http://cis-india.org
-------------------
Access to Knowledge Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School
M: +1 520 314 7147 | W: http://yaleisp.org
PGP ID: 0x1D5C5F07 | Twitter: https://twitter.com/pranesh_prakash

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