Copyright Relinquishment

C O P Y R I G H T R E L I N Q U I S H M E N TD R A N D R E S G U A D A M U Z U N I V E R S I T Y O F S U S S E X , U K

A P O L O G I E S …

B Y T V O L H T T P S : / / F L I C . K R / P / U B 9 E 1 S

… A N D A S T O R Y

• “With the advent of the Internet, we see that people are creating despite these exclusive rights, this monopoly, instead of because of it. Millions of creators – millions! – have publicly renounced their already-awarded exclusive rights by publishing under a Creative Commons license.” Rick Falvinge.

https://xkcd.com/386/

C A N Y O U R E L I N Q U I S H Y O U R C O P Y R I G H T ?

H T T P S : / / F L I C . K R / P / 6 1 A K E Y

O F C O U R S E !

S U R E LY !

E R R R R … I G U E S S S O ?

W H Y A R E Y O U A S K I N G ?

D E P E N D S O N T H E V I E W O F C O P Y R I G H T

• Copyright as a property right: you can do what you want with your property, even donate it.

• Copyright as a fundamental right of personality: you cannot renounce basic rights.

T E R M I N O L O G Y

• Public domain dedication

• Relinquishment

• Renouncement

• Abandonment

R E L I N Q U I S H M E N T ( K E N YA )

• s. 45(1) of the Kenyan Copyright Law: “The following works shall belong to the public domain-[…] (b) works in respect of which authors have renounced their rights;”

• s 45(2): “For the purposes of paragraph (b), renunciation by an author or his successor in title of his rights shall be in writing and made public but any such renunciation shall not be contrary to any previous contractual obligation relating to the work.”

M O R A L R I G H T S ( C O L O M B I A )

• “Art. 30 (1) The above [moral] rights may not be waived or transferred. When authors transfer and authorize the exercise of their patrimonial rights they grant the enjoyment and disposal referred to the respective contract, and retain the [moral] rights provided in this Article.”

I R R E V O C A B I L I T Y

• Any act of relinquishment should be irrevocable.

• Therefore, all acts of renouncement should require proper formalities.

• India: “Section 21. (1) The author of a work may relinquish all or any of the rights comprised in the copyright in the work by giving notice in the prescribed form to the Registrar of Copyrights or by way of public notice and thereupon such rights shall, subject to the provisions of sub-section (3), cease to exist from the date of the notice.”

R E S U LT S B Y C O U N T R Y

C O U N T RY A L L O W S V O L U N TA RY R E L I N Q U I S H M E N T ?

C A N M O R A L R I G H T S B E WA I V E D ?

B R A Z I L U N C L E A R N O

C H I L E Y E S N O

C H I N A U N C L E A R N O

C O L O M B I A Y E S N O

E G Y P T U N C L E A R N O

F R A N C E U N C L E A R N O

I N D I A Y E S U N C L E A R

K E N YA Y E S N O

R E P U B L I C O F K O R E A

U N C L E A R N O

N E W D E V E L O P M E N T: R E D A R E P O R T ( 2 0 1 4 / 2 2 5 6 ( I N I ) )

• “ Calls on the Commission to effectively safeguard public domain works, which are by definition not subject to copyright protection; urges the Commission, therefore, to clarify that once a work is in the public domain, any digitisation of the work which does not constitute a new, transformative work, stays in the public domain; also calls on the Commission to examine whether rightholders may be given the right to dedicate their works to the public domain, in whole or in part…”

W H O I S D E D I C AT I N G W O R K S T O T H E P U B L I C D O M A I N ?

• Scientific projects (Human Genome Project)

• Libraries, archives, museums

• Public sector institutions

• A few individuals

C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S

C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S

Attribution: Every CC licenses allows the world to copy and distribute a work provided that the licensee credits the creator/licensor.

The author may include these other elements:

NonCommercial: licensees can use the work for non-commercial purposes.

No Derivatives: the work cannot be modified.

ShareAlike: the work can be copied, modified and distributed if the author releases the derivative under the same license.

H U M A N - R E A D A B L E C O M M O N S D E E D

L AW Y E R -R E A D A B L E

L E G A L C O D E

M A C H I N E -R E A D A B L E

D I G I TA L C O D E

< A R E L = " L I C E N S E " H R E F = " H T T P : / /

C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S . O R G /L I C E N S E S / B Y- S A /

3 . 0 / " > < I M G A LT = " C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S L I C E N S E "

S T Y L E = " B O R D E R - W I D T H : 0 " S R C = " H T T P : / /

I . C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S . O R G /L / B Y- S A / 3 . 0 / 8 8 X 3 1 . P N G " /

> < / A > < B R / > T H I S W O R K I S L I C E N S E D U N D E R A < A

R E L = " L I C E N S E " H R E F = " H T T P : / /

C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S . O R G /L I C E N S E S / B Y- S A /

3 . 0 / " > C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S AT T R I B U T I O N - S H A R E A L I K E 3 . 0 U N P O R T E D L I C E N S E < /

A > .

B Y A T T R I B U T I O N

B Y - N C A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L

B Y - S A A T T R I B U T I O N - S H A R E A L I K E

B Y - N D A T T R I B U T I O N - N O D E R I V A T I V E S

B Y - N C - S A A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L - S H A R E A L I K E

B Y - N C - N D A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L - N O D E R I V A T I V E S

L I C E N C E S

C C 0

• Relatively new licence that works both as a dedication to the public domain, and as a full licence where it’s not permitted to relinquish copyright.

C C 0

• Public domain dedication to the extent permitted by law.

• If local copyright law does not allow relinquishment, then it acts as a “royalty-free, non-transferable, non sublicensable, non exclusive, irrevocable and unconditional license” to exercise all rights in the work.

• As of 2014, there were 832 works marked under CC0, and 1220 marked under the public domain.

P U B L I C D O M A I N M A R K

“This work has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.”

S PA C E X

H T T P : / / G O O . G L / Z O J 2 7 A

F L I C K R

H T T P : / / G O O . G L / K B G O 8 3

F L I C K R A N N O U N C E M E N T

“[…] we’ve heard from our community that we’re missing two important designations: Public Domain and Creative Commons 0 (CC0). Many members of our community want to be able to upload images that are no longer protected by copyright and correctly tag them as being in the Public Domain, or they want to release their copyright entirely under CC0.

So, starting today we’re happy to support these two new options. One of the first accounts on Flickr to change its designation was SpaceX, which has uploaded more than a hundred gorgeous images of its launches. These extraordinary photos are now available for others to freely use, enhance, and promulgate without restriction under copyright law.”

C C 0 A D O P T E R S

•The British Library

•The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Library

•Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)

•Europeana

•Genomes Unzipped

•German National Library

•Harvard Library

•Netherlands Government

•Sage Commons

•Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre

A N D …

• “As a work of the United States Government, this document is in the public domain within the United States. Additionally, the United States Government waives copyright and related rights in this work worldwide through the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.”

C O N C L U D I N G …

A . G U A D A M U Z @ S U S S E X . A C . U K @ T E C H N O L L A M A

Thanks