The next panel is on Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge.
First is Anne-Catherine Lorrain of Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue.
- Interoperability should be a public principle.
- ISP liability: Pressure for filtering solutions (consumer surveillance).
- Government procurement should require open standards.
Richard Wilder of Microsoft.
- (I’m not speaking on behalf of Microsoft.) IP online is important; we need more enforcement. This is key to our continued R&D.
- Open source is an important part of the software sector. Our goal is to work together.
- We need to be clear about the role of government involvement in standards-setting.
- We recognize the role of IP in collaboration and competition online.
- We’re interested in patent quality.
Bruce Perens:
- Learning is a human right. There are threats under the heading of both “IP” and “security” to learning.
- Innovation in different areas has different models. But we have the same IP law. So in software we created open source.
- Government’s function is to create a level playing field for competition. IP is the main barrier to interoperability.
- Governments should make sure that file formats and communication protocols are freely available.
Nicole Allen of the Student PIRGs:
- The Internet provides the opportunity to access learning materials. It also creates the need for industries to change business models.
- Textbook prices have risen significantly and pose a significant burden to students.
- We need policies that increase the supply and demand of low-cost textbooks and help new companies enter the market.
- If textbooks take the lead in changing their business model, other industries will follow suit.
What should government do?
- Wilder: PLoS is an example of new business models made possible by the Internet. But there has to be a business plan that makes it [financially] sustainable. At PLoS, authors pay a fee to publish, which can be internalized in research funding. In software, several business models are possible, from providing services, advertising, sale and licensing, new models from software-as-a-service. IP has a role in each model.
- Perens: I don’t think it’s true in the case of scientific and technical journals today. It used to be true. We used to need the publisher for printing and distribution. There doesn’t have to be a business plan: the important players, the journals, have never been paid. They do it for the prestige, which is an economic motive, but it’s not direct remuneration. PLoS, by the way, isn’t the only such publisher. In a number of fields, we can cast aside IP because it’s no longer relevant. Apache is the most popular Web browser of the world, none of which has direct remuneration to develop Apache. They need Apache as infrastructure. There are two types of IP. One grants a substantial business differentiation, e.g. Amazon’s recommendation system — if Amazon let others use that system, they’d lose their business differentiation. But Amazon uses Linux and funds it as a cost center.
- Lorrain: The discussion on IP has been frozen, so we’re trapped talking about enforcement. Hugenholtz said we need to increase the consumer’s power in Europe. The Paris Accord, a TACD project, is about finding alternative means of remuneration for creative communities while facilitating broader access. Our goal is to build an A2K movement at the Europe.
- Allen: Business models are important, whether compensation comes from money or prestige. We need more government involvement in stimulating innovation in business models. [Marc Rotenberg: So we should spend on broadband infrastructure?] I don’t think it addresses the concern. Industry needs to evolve. We need to ensure access to affordable education.
- Wilder: I’m concerned about government intervention in standard-setting, government procurement policies using standards favoring one business model or another.
- Lorrain: Interoperability and standards are important for consumers but they must be adopted transparently.
- Perens: We need standards for standards — Danish have the best. We need transparent, open, equitable development of standards; and standards must be available to all and royalty-free. On education, formal education is not the only or best way that people learn. We’ve gotten rid of the means of private hands-on education in the name of law enforcement.
Questions:
Phillipe Aigrain: These recommendations are somewhat small. (1) We need a government that acts as a trustee for the information commons and should consider new regulation in light of its impact on the commons. (2) We need to recognize activities that occur outside markets. The IP economy is the bubble that has not exploded yet. We need a positive synergy between the economy and non-market activities.
Perens: We don’t make policy democratically, but rather by treaty.
Q: Deep packet inspection — copyright owners like this. How do we prevent copyright infringement online?
Q: (1) Interconnection directive in Europe — could we have an interoperability directive? (2) Are there open source models for textbook development?
Q: We need to keep all media of delivery in consideration. Books are expensive. We need ways to promote open source without a brand.
Q: Is government action necessary in these areas? Regulation is not necessary the answer to everything.
Q: Microsoft dominates the industry in Egypt. Is open source relevant to developing countries?
Allen: Open source knowledge and educational content exist. In the U.S., books need to be marketable to professors. Open textbooks have to replicate traditional textbooks. DRM is a big issue with textbooks. Publishers sell digitized versions of books, but it’s a subscription, so it expires. They’ll face piracy. The market is powerful, and using market forces as much as possible is important, but when there’s a market malfunction there’s a role for government to play — such as the textbook market.
Perens: The answer isn’t greater regulation, but existing regulation that is bad, such as the DMCA. It doesn’t work for music. The rhetoric of defending small businesses doesn’t hold up — small businesses can’t actually enforce patents against big business. Instead big businesses can use their IP to preclude disruptive technologies. Does open source have a role in developing countries — OLPC has been killed by big companies, Intel and Microsoft. I published open books with Prentice Hall, and people are using them in Egypt. Egypt should defend the right to learn internationally.
Wilder: We want to see access to technology. The right to learn sets up a conflict, similar to debates about the right to health — really infrastructure is the issue. On deep packet inspection, IP protection is important, but government should let business models evolve naturally.
Lorrain: (1) Governments should promote procurement of devices complying with open standards.
(2) Governments should develop alternative reward systems to compensate artists without requiring consumer surveillance.
(3) Governments should support robust work program on E&Ls at WIPO, including access for the blind, distance education, and others.
