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

Fri Sep 26 23:39:25 UTC 2014

On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 1:25 AM, Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov <
dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>

What a frustratingly framed question. I am half-tempted to respond with the
list of Disney movies based on public domain works
<https://medium.com/@derekkhanna/disney-works-based-on-public-domain-eb49ac34c3da>
;)

> 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?
>

If it helps them act at all, I can't see how it hurts us to have them think
about it. It's not the most frustrating mis-framing to come out of
Brussels. :)

I was pointed by an acquaintance at these studies that are specific to the
use of open source in the Android App Store (a space that is easy to study):

The press releases for the initial study and a follow-up are here:
http://www.openlogic.com/wazi/bid/187975/Research-Mobile-Apps-and-Open-Source-Compliance
http://www.openlogic.com/news/bid/210112/OpenLogic-Code-Scan-Reveals-Increasing-Open-Source-License-Compliance-Among-Mobile-Apps

I also wrote aaa 3-part blog series on the research, results, etc. here:
http://www.openlogic.com/blog/bid/223525/Apps-App-Store-and-Open-Source-Part-1
http://www.openlogic.com/blog/bid/226481/Apps-App-Stores-and-Open-Source-Part-2
http://www.openlogic.com/blog/bid/230007/Apps-App-Stores-and-Open-Source-Part-3

The headline number is that they found 71% non-compliance in the first
study; down to 38% of apps non-compliant in the followup (in 2012).

> 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?
>

I will continue discussing and thinking on it.

Luis

>
> 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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>>> Advocacy_Advisors at lists.wikimedia.org
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>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Timothy Vollmer
>> Public Policy Manager, Creative Commons
>> Get Creative Commons Updates http://bit.ly/commonsnews
>>
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>>
>
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-- 
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
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.*
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