Category Archives: free culture

The event I did with Johnson and Tweedy at the New York Public Library is now available in video and audio formats at Wilcoworld. Notice the license. Continue reading →

One of the most interesting presentations at this fantastic conference was given by Eve Gray, of Eve Gray & Associates. Gray was asked to study the publishing strategy of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in South Africa. This research institution had a traditional strategy of publishing lots of research books, and selling them. Gray convinced them to change their strategy — to give away all their research books for free online, and offer a high quality print-on-demand service for anyone who wants the paper version. The result: “the sales turnover of the publishing department has risen by 300%.” As she concluded her presentation, “giving away books and lead to an increase in our book sales.” There’s much much more in her interesting analysis. She has generously offered it for downloading. Here’s the press release. Continue reading →

Hyperion Records is one of the very best independent classical labels. According to its news page which is now up, it’s lost an appeal which will now jeapordize its existence. Hyperion was sued by Dr. Lionel Sawkins, who had created a performance edition of four works by Lalande. The British court has now concluded that a performance edition, even one that does not claim to be an “arrangement,” is copyrighted. Apparently, the “sweat of the brow” in producing the performance edition was enough to create an “original” work.
The British system shifts costs to the loser. That means the exposure could be “hundreds of thousands of pounds if not a million.” Most charitably, this is a close question. If you believe that this label should not go bankrupt just because they tried to defend the side they defended, you may think about offering some support. Continue reading →

It’s just been announced that the South African Constitutional Court has decided in favor of Laugh It Off. Laugh It Off had produced a series of t-shirts which used trademarks to make critical points about the trademark owner. The most famous of these shirts was one that used a famous beer label “Black Label” and remixed it to a “Black Label, White Guilt” logo. The producers of the t-shirt were sued, and lost in three courts. The Constitutional Court has now apparently reversed the judgment. I’ve not seen the opinion yet, and will update when it is posted. Here’s an article with some background.
Update: Here’s the decision. Continue reading →

The kids at FreeCulture.org have gone legit. Read about FreeCulture.org, Inc.. Continue reading →

I’ve just arrived in South Africa after speaking in Norway. I had been invited by Kopinor to participate in their 25th Anniversary. My speech was a classic reminder that audience is everything. I count it as a total failure. (More below)
{UPDATE: I apologize that this sounds (upon rereading and upon reading the comments) critical of Kopinor or the conference. That is not my meaning. I have disagreements, of course, but this is critical of me — of my “failing to connect” — with a community that is extraordinarily important to the future of these issues on the net. As I said in the talk, such societies are often better at dealing with the rights issues we confront in the US; working out where and how is the constructive challenge we face. My talk is available here. The other presenter in my panel is here. And the question and answer session is here. } Continue reading →

Chris O’Shea pointed me to Ben Hanbury‘s Free Culture page, which has a fanstastic collection of relevant stuff, and this beautiful movie called RecycledTV. The original link is here, but I’ve moved it to my server to share the bandwidth costs. I don’t believe I’ve met Ben Hanbury. I should. Many should meet his work. Continue reading →

Georg Krog has an excellent summary of a recent Norwegian Supreme Court case on linking and copyright infringement. Continue reading →

Nicholas Rombes has a cool blog on digital cinema…. Continue reading →

The good folks at Duke have put together this cool chart on documentary films. Continue reading →