Andrew Nimick Point Concept twitter.com/andrewnim

CopyRight

The Right not to be copied

The Right to enjoy ALL profits from your work

Unless you have been ensconced in the bush for a few months you will have noticed that copyright is a big issue at present with SOPA and PIPA; we must also not forget ACTA.

What you may not have realised is that while some of the aims of these US Acts are laudable, they also are about protecting the old models and the old establishments; in some cases, the possibly immoral huge profits.

There are an increasing number of creative people who are taking a new approach to the issue of copyright.

We see this in examples like creative commons, open source software and music – with new bands releasing music for free. We also now see it with authors and comedians.

Comedian Louise CK released his own recoding of one of his shows; you can download it from him for $5. He imposes only one restriction – you can't put it on torrent, which means you may not redistribute it.

For the rest, as he says: 'No DRM, no regional restriction, no crap. You can download this file, play it as much as you like, burn it to a DVD, whatever.”

Author Cory Doctrow takes it one step further. He releases his books in print through a publisher, then releases his books as eBooks for free.

You can do what you like as long as the book is kept as a single work.

So no copying bits, no reproducing as your own work.

You can pass it on to a friend – you do not have to pay for it.

Cory relies on the fact that you will find value in what he does and will act accordingly. People do; they buy the books and they try to pay Cory direct.

He has a good relationship with his publishers and will not cut them out, so he made a system, you can donate a book to a school.

The publisher gets its cut, Cory gets an income, you feel good and the school gets a book, which may help a child become more literate – boy, pay it forward never looked so good.

Cory has a view that copyright is important, but there should be as little of it as possible.

He will not sell his eBooks on iTunes or Amazon because of their restrictive use.

I could go on with examples, but my point is that these are two which show the new model. It's akin to the fremium or lower cost of many vendors like Microsoft (Hotmail is free) Google, Evernote etc.

For all the people who don't pay, there are enough who do.

Guess what the people who don't, would not have, nor would they have read the books or they would have got them from the library. Lost sales?

Cory will tell you it increases the sales opportunity.

As will many young musicians who release for free to drive market share.

In contrast are the big SOPA supporters of the ‘old model'.

The one which dictates choice and controls is run by hypocritical organisations, which are about protection at any cost.

These companies do not like what's happening above because it cuts them out as middlemen; it does not allow them to control and extort. Strong words I know.

It's all about value and perceived value. I happily pay the entrance to a cinema screening as I get the experience and the big screen (sadly I get the talkers and fidgets).

But I resent the hyped price for a DVD, I do not want the extras and do not want to pay for them, I just want the film.

I also baulk at the extravagant money paid to ‘stars' who really are not worth it.

iTunes came out at a time when the music industry was first on its ‘stop piracy movement'. iTunes proved that actually people do want to pay to support their preferred artists, they just don't want to be ripped off. They don't want the extra cruddy tracks on the album.

I am not saying that either model is the right one, what I am saying is that we as consumers expect choice and we expect value. Acts like SOPA could well erode that choice.

While copyright must be protected, and the people who entertain us and produce new medicines or equipment should be compensated, let's keep it realistic and in line with the real value.

Let's, let the market say what the value is, and find new models of supply and demand.

Let's stop copyright infringement, not with draconian laws and force, but by repeating the iTunes method of a reasonable price people are happy to pay – then they don't need to pirate.

Illegal copying is wrong, no matter what it is, but we law abiding citizens should not be constrained by the actions of the law breakers. That is the easy option politicians seem to take at every turn.