2014 CIOPORA Chronicle

Now, let’s say, the CB trust
charter has been breached.
What are the enforcement
options?
“The first option is for the Creator
to confirm their IP membership of
Creative Barcode and remind the
party in breach of the terms of the
Trust Charter supported by WIPO.
In the few instances where trouble
has flared up and a breach appears
likely to occur, simply drawing CB,
the Trust Charter and WIPO to
their attention has shut the trouble
down and averted a breach.
However, if the party continued
down the wrong path the next
course of action would be to contact
the WIPO mediation department
who would send an intervention
letter free of charge.
If that does not resolve the matter,
the parties are obligated to enter
into a WIPO mediation (costs are a
fixed fee, discounted by 50% to CB
members and to a ceiling cost of
£4,000 shared between the parties)
Enforcement issues and costs have
always been a problem for individuals
and small firms – David and
Goliath syndrome – but Creative
Barcode substantially levels the
playing field. No longer is the
smaller player on their own, instead
they have Creative Barcode and
WIPO at their shoulder.”
Maxine, thank you for telling
CIOPORA about Creative
Barcode. Our last question is
of a more general character.
What is, from your point of
view, the major challenge
for IP of our times, and what
can be done to raise the
awareness of the general
public towards intellectual
property and its value for the
society?
“I think, in part you highlighted
this in your introduction. If the
legacy of the digital age is ‘Creator
unknown’ (Orphan Works) and
endless inaccurate attributions
where a source credit simply states
the online publication/portal where
the user discovered the work or the
search engine that returned the
work e.g. Google Images or simply
‘the internet’ then not only will a
Creators livelihood and creative and
innovation journey be eroded, but
over time so will the creative and
cultural history of nations.
Tim Berners-Lee created the www
and his non-commercial offering of
it to the World was given to enable
access to and sharing of knowledge
and to build upon the work of others
to advance innovation. It wasn’t
given to deny Creators a livelihood,
misattribute their work or erode
society’s knowledge of the Original
Source.
The 12 th century theologian and
author John of Salisbury is credited
with the first use of the term ‘standing
on the shoulders of giants’ in his
essay on logic titled Metalogicon.
But best-known for the use of the
phrase is perhaps Sir Isaac Newton
who in his letter to Robert Hooke
in 1676 stated:
"What Descartes did was a good
step. You have added much several
ways, and especially in taking the
colours of thin plates into philosophical
consideration. If I have
seen a little further, it is by standing
on the shoulders of giants."
In modern day terms, the phase is
often used in innovation to mean
using the achievements and understanding
gained by major thinkers
who have gone before and building
upon their work in order to make
intellectual, technological and innovation
progress.
So ironically, one of the biggest
challenges for IP in our times is
to stop the erosion of the original
source and to do that requires
collective action and collective
responsibility.
IP Cartoons a
collaborative work
by Maxine Horn
and Cartoonist
Roger Penwill.
First, Creators must take the time
and the responsibility for marking
their work before publishing it
online.
Publishers should insist that works
submitted contain a unique identifier
such as a Creative Barcode IP
Tag, a Creative Commons license
or the Creators own marque, name
and usage terms.
Finally, a positive communication
programme could be supported by
national governments seeking to
educate consumers in consumer
friendly language and preserve
original source and therefore
creative and cultural history.
I think it would be counter-productive
for Governments and Internet
Service Providers to create just a
retribution process rather than
create a reward based system for
doing the right thing through
loyalty-type schemes.
Creative Barcode has created a
system and process to assist in
preserving Original Source but
now the horse needs to drink.” |||
About the author
Anna Kaehne is a Manager Public Relations & Communications
at CIOPORA. She is responsible for association’s internal and external
communications including the relations with press, production of media
and marketing materials offline as well as online. She is the person behind
the CIOPORA Chronicle, association’s newsletter, press releases, website
and other communication projects.
Anna holds a Magister Degree in
English and Slavic Studies from
the University of Magdeburg,
Germany. In her homeland
– Ukraine – she studied International
Law at the National Law
Academy of Ukraine in Kharkov.
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