[Advocacy Advisors] Questions on Economic Contribution of Public Domain and Open Licensing

Wed Sep 24 08:25:37 UTC 2014

Salut la liste!

I had an Observatory meeting of the WG "IP in the digital world" which will
deal with our study. Had a chance to discuss things with the Observatory's
economists and we decided to engage in a more intensive discussion over
email, phone and at the annual plenary in Alicante next month. In the room
it was basically just me and the economist speaking as no other member
(i.e. none of the industry representatives) seemed to show an interest in
this one.

Here the main requests and my comments:

1. They really want us to compile a list of sectors.

I asked for a economic modelling study that assess the whole situation, but
they aren't keen on this. Apparently their budget for this for 2015 is
25.000 Euro and - I am really quoting here - they want something
"quick&credible".

Additionally they want to make this study a counterpoint to their IP
contribution study [1], which was released last year. This was also our
initial starting point, as we wanted to be able to say "yes, IP is
important but it builds up on a thriving commons".  In the first study they
just used a number of industry sectors and looked at it. They proposed we
should start by taking this list and amending it as we see fit. ([2] page
27 ff.)

My feeling is that we should go for this approach as a start, but I am a
bit scared that this could limit the results not in our favour. A longer
list with sectors we know free&open is king would help. Also, the
Observatory has a tendency to do follow-up and complementary studies, so I
could very well see them continuing with such research after this initial
experiment.

2. They really want to know if infringements is a problem for us

The official name of the Observatory being "EU Observatory on Infringements
of Intellectual Property Rights", they seemed really keen on including
infringements of PD&OL in the study. I said I could give them a few case
studies or examples, but hadn't heard of any studies on this. Should we
give in and let them do research on this, although it might take focus off
the economic contribution part?

3. They are grateful for any help or pointers, especially on evaluation
methods

Their economists seem a bit... excited to tackle a completely new field for
them. Frankly speaking, they are a bit usure what to do, which is why they
want to stick to a limited list of sectors. They are also asking for advice
on evaluation we might give them. I promised to point them to the
'Wikipedia evaluation study' and the Polish 'study on the reuse value of
open data'. Anything else we might pitch in?

Feel free to share this with your circles. Also, we'll be integrated and
get to comment pretty much every step of the way, so there will be many
opportunities to contribute and to nudge things in our direction.

Thanks for reading,
Dimi

[1]https://oami.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/observatory/ip-contribution
[2]
https://oami.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/observatory/documents/IPContributionStudy/full_report/joint_report_epo_ohim.pdf

2014-09-19 20:18 GMT+02:00 Timothy Vollmer <tvol at creativecommons.org>:

>
>
> On Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 9:22 AM, Luis Villa <lvilla at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>> Here are the four basic questions (copied from the document) and some
>> quick comments *in italics.*
>>
>>   "In effect the first point, which we propose as the starting point for
>> our study, amounts to a quantification of the contribution of works made
>> available under PD&OL to the economy. In order to make such quantification,
>> we need to answer some basic questions:
>>
>>    - Which are the sectors that produce works that are licensed under
>>    PD&OL, and which are the sectors that use them (the proposal provides some
>>    examples, but we need more systematic information)—is this information
>>    available?
>>
>>    *LV: We could create a more rigorously compiled list, but I’m not
>>    aware of “quantification” in the sense they seem to be wanting.*
>>
>>     - Given that these works are not registered anywhere, where should
>>    we look for data on the quantity of such works?
>>
>>    *LV: CC has gathered numbers on this in the past; could talk to them
>>    about it?*
>>
>> Yah, lemme ask around to see if there are any useable numbers we can get
> on this.
> tvol
>
>>
>>    -
>>     - Do BEUC/EDRi/Wikimedia have any suggestions as to valuation
>>    methods?
>>
>>     *LV: The best thing I’m aware of on this is *
>>    http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2338563 (Economic
>>    Value of Wikipedia, by Jonathan Band)*, which contains a number of
>>    valuation metrics that could be extended to open culture more generally.*
>>
>>     - “Open license” does not mean that one can do with the work
>>    whatever one wants. Is infringement or misuse a problem for the open source
>>    community, and if so, are there are any studies that have examined its
>>    extent and impact?
>>
>>    *LV: None that I’m aware of, but I’ll ask around and get back to the
>>    list.*
>>
>>  Luis Villa
>> Deputy General Counsel
>> Wikimedia Foundation
>> 415.839.6885 ext. 6810
>>
>> This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have
>> received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the
>> mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical
>> reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
>> members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more
>> on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 9:00 AM, Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov <
>> dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>   Hi all,
>>>
>>> The IPR Observatory [1] of the European Commission have now officially
>>> included a study requested by us with the support of other civil society
>>> actors in their 2015 working programme. The study is on "economic
>>> contribution of public domain and open licensing".
>>>
>>> The Observatory has sent us some additional questions now that might be
>>> important for the final outcome. I would appreciate any comments/ideas/help
>>> in answering those in the best possible way. The questions can be seen in
>>> the PDF attachment.
>>>
>>> Thanks a lot!
>>> Dimi
>>>
>>> [1]https://oami.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/observatory/home
>>>  <Questions_WG_23092014.pdf>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Timothy Vollmer
> Public Policy Manager, Creative Commons
> Get Creative Commons Updates http://bit.ly/commonsnews
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