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  • From: "Andrew Katz" <andrew AT thekatzfamily.co.uk>
  • To: <cc-uk AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Cc-uk] Re: Cc-uk Digest, Vol 11, Issue 4
  • Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 20:37:38 -0000

As a lawyer myself, I don't subscribe to the theory that lawyers promote protection of rights because they stand to gain more from it. I'm not even sure that that's true (although it could well be - I simply haven't done the analysis).

It's more likely to be the case that (1) their training consists almost exclusively of learning what rights exist and how to protect them and (2) they are likely to be instructed by clients who are always asking for more and more protection.

They are unlikely to have even considered the alternative economic analysis. I stressed the point in my review of Lessig's The Future of Ideas for Computers and Law magazine that although family lawyers and criminal lawyers (for example) are affected by laws which affect their clients very directly and personally, that's just not the case for IP lawyers. Criminal lawyers and family lawyers are therefore more likely be able to talk about the societal effects of the legislation and practice they deal with daily, than IP lawyers, who in all probability don't even think about it. I am staggered by the average IP lawyer's failure to grasp the wider context of the work they do.

Then again, I suspect that not many IP lawyers (unlike me) have released software under the GPL and therefore understand the dynamic of open licensing from the other side of the fence.

As an aside, it's interesting how little respect lawyers have for IP rights themselves. Most law firms have a "precedent bank" of documents which they use as templates for the documents they are asked to produce in their business. Traditionally, these are added to in a number of different ways: they are carried from one law firm from another as lawyers move; as lawyers come across documents prepared by lawyers on the other side, they will tweak them and incorporate them into their precedent; lawyers will buy in precedents prepared by third parties. All these lawyers are benefiting from the "standing on the shoulders of others" benefits akin to those available under a creative commons structure. However, lawyers are starting to get wise to this and are trying to protect their IP more and more.....

- Andrew


----- Original Message ----- From: <cc-uk-request AT lists.ibiblio.org>
To: <cc-uk AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2004 5:00 PM
Subject: Cc-uk Digest, Vol 11, Issue 4


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Today's Topics:

1. Own IT! Creative london advice service (Nick Hill)
2. RE: Own IT! Creative london advice service (Simon Byles)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 19:12:16 +0000
From: Nick Hill <nick AT nickhill.co.uk>
Subject: [Cc-uk] Own IT! Creative london advice service
To: FSFE-UK List <fsfe-uk AT gnu.org>, cc-uk AT lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <41B20C10.7030007 AT nickhill.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

A friend went to a Creative London seminar. The bias was heavily towards
locking down works and creativity. Disturbed and with good intent, He
made a suggestion that they hold a seminar on creative commons and free
software with the idea of broadening their horizon.

This appears to be a response to his suggestion.
http://www.own-it.org/events/details/?eventId=33

Which starts "Piracy. File sharing. Viral marketing. Open source,
copyleft and Creative Commons. How do you protect your ideas and work
when everything seems downloadable in the internet age?"

Speakers are:
Alex Chapman and Paul Randle, Solicitors, and Miles Jacobson, Managing
Director of Sports Interactive (SI), the creator of the new title
Football Manager 2005,

It is therefore not surprising how skewed the summary of the speech is
towards monopolising works. Two of the three speakers are in the legal
sector which stands to gain from monopolisation of culture.

There is no entry fee. There are 39 spaces currently available.

This is a partnership between
http://www.creativelondon.org.uk/
and
http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/

A lively Q&A section where informed members take the alternative
position could be fun, however, creativelondon and lcc need to be
convinced there is an alternative to locking down/ monopolising works.


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 22:21:12 -0000
From: "Simon Byles" <simon AT byles.name>
Subject: RE: [Cc-uk] Own IT! Creative london advice service
To: <cc-uk AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <E1FEB15D7C898049A6F86E8A30E8B1681F13 AT simon.byles.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Sounds interesting, though I agree it's an unusual angle to say the
least. I've booked a place out of curiosity and there are now 36 spaces
free.

Thanks for the heads up, Nick.

Simon.

-----Original Message-----
From: cc-uk-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:cc-uk-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Nick Hill
Sent: 04 December 2004 19:12
To: FSFE-UK List; cc-uk AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Cc-uk] Own IT! Creative london advice service

A friend went to a Creative London seminar. The bias was heavily towards
locking down works and creativity. Disturbed and with good intent, He
made a suggestion that they hold a seminar on creative commons and free
software with the idea of broadening their horizon.

This appears to be a response to his suggestion.
http://www.own-it.org/events/details/?eventId=33

Which starts "Piracy. File sharing. Viral marketing. Open source,
copyleft and Creative Commons. How do you protect your ideas and work
when everything seems downloadable in the internet age?"

Speakers are:
Alex Chapman and Paul Randle, Solicitors, and Miles Jacobson, Managing
Director of Sports Interactive (SI), the creator of the new title
Football Manager 2005,

It is therefore not surprising how skewed the summary of the speech is
towards monopolising works. Two of the three speakers are in the legal
sector which stands to gain from monopolisation of culture.

There is no entry fee. There are 39 spaces currently available.

This is a partnership between
http://www.creativelondon.org.uk/
and
http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/

A lively Q&A section where informed members take the alternative
position could be fun, however, creativelondon and lcc need to be
convinced there is an alternative to locking down/ monopolising works.
_______________________________________________
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Cc-uk AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-uk




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End of Cc-uk Digest, Vol 11, Issue 4
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