Should the information be free or the author must vigilantly control the use of his creation? This problem became particularly acute with the development of the Internet, where information is shared with lightning speed, and the author is often “lost” on the road.
In 2001, the organization Creative Commons was created to reform the copyright under the existing law in order to expand the lawful use of works.
The organization has developed a license, thanks to which authors are free to choose what part of their rights they are willing to share.
Creative Commons or CC license afforded authors an opportunity to allow use their works with attribution (enable /disable the use for commercial purposes, enable/disable modification of the source material, etc.).
So an alternative, ‘CC some rights reserved’ appeared for the ‘© All rights reserved’ license. Between 2002 and 2009, CC license was given to 350 million works.
Creative Commons is a middle ground between the rigid copyright and the ideology of copyleft, implying that the information should be fully transferred to public use.
Copyleft spread among the creators of the software by Richard Stallman, and his supporters say the idea of Creative Commons is not enough liberal.
Should the information be free or the author must vigilantly control the use of his creation? This problem became particularly acute with the development of the Internet, where information is shared with lightning speed, and the author is often “lost” on the road.
In 2001, the organization Creative Commons was created to reform the copyright under the existing law in order to expand the lawful use of works.
The organization has developed a license, thanks to which authors are free to choose what part of their rights they are willing to share.
Creative Commons or CC license afforded authors an opportunity to allow use their works with attribution (enable /disable the use for commercial purposes, enable/disable modification of the source material, etc.).
So an alternative, ‘CC some rights reserved’ appeared for the ‘© All rights reserved’ license. Between 2002 and 2009, CC license was given to 350 million works.
Creative Commons is a middle ground between the rigid copyright and the ideology of copyleft, implying that the information should be fully transferred to public use.
Copyleft spread among the creators of the software by Richard Stallman, and his supporters say the idea of Creative Commons is not enough liberal.
Мeantime, the search system ‘Google’, the free encyclopedia ‘Wikipedia’, the ‘Flikr’ photo community, ‘Al Jazeera’ channel, the page of the U.S. President Administration, Russian Internet edition ‘Private correspondent’ and many other resources are functioned under the CC license.
In Armenia, the use of this license is a rarity. According to the lawyer of the ‘Internews- Armenia’ organization Movses Hakobyan, Armenia’s laws do not allow free use of property. “From a legal point of view CC is a tool with which one can express an opinion on these legal norms,” says Hakobyan. On one hand the Constitution of Armenia states that intellectual property is protected by law, on the other hand – “everyone is entitled to possession, use, dispose of their property and inheritance, at his/her discretion” (Article 31).
According to the lawyer, there is a wording problem of the license in the law, since today much depends on the subjective approach.
In 2008, within the framework of the project of Eurasia Partnership Foundation experts from the three South Caucasus republics for the first time discussed the issue of application of CC in their countries. In addition, information on CC licenses was translated into national languages and the license adaptation to the laws in force in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia was discussed.
“The license and a promotional video were translated, as well as information leaflets issued,” says Movses Hakobyan who has managed the project implementation in Armenia.
As part of the Creative Commons license “Armenian Journal of Mathematics” and “Armenian Journal of Physics” accessed on the website of the Fundamental Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Armenia are issued by NAS. Also the official site of the President of Armenia – president.am– functions under a Creative Commons license.
A CC license just does not allow the creation of derivative works based on materials from the site. According to Movses Hakobyan, this step of the apparatus of the president is addressed to the liberalization of official figures. And according to the editor of the Armenian version of ‘Wikipedia’ Aleksey Chalabyan, preservation of copyright on state websites which are designed to inform the public, is nonsense.
Perhaps the only Armenian media, functioning for 5 years under the terms ‘some rights reserved’ is PanARMENIAN.Net news and photo agency. According to Arpine Grigoryan, the PR manager of ‘PanArmenian Media’, the CC license will enable to regulate the scope of copyright in journalism.
“Often the media outlets are simply unaware of the existence of such a license, because in fact, usually they are not against the spread of the information, if indicated authorship,” says Arpine Grigoryan.
Meanwhile, according to CC license of PanArmenian photo agency, it is not permitted the use of site materials for commercial purposes and is prohibited their modification. “We believe that if the photos are subjected to change, then the content may be distorted: the content of photos may not coincide with the context. In general, this license reflects our position: we are not against the use of our information, if the source is cited,” explains Arpine Grigoryan.
Blogging is a sphere where the CC license is relatively more widespread in Armenia. In his online diary, for example, it is used by one of the most active Armenian bloggers and an expert in the field of information security Samvel Martirosyan. According to the blogger the authors must be respected, but the authors themselves must respect the “consumer “.
“I’m against the rigid constraints of copyright. Today one of the most dangerous trends in the Internet is that copyright is becoming one of the factors restricting freedom on the web. Thus, I would like to emphasize that my posts may be used freely, but with an indication of authorship.”
As for the mass media, Samvel Martirosyan considers that today in the information field of Armenia it is widespread copying of texts from each other without indicating the source. “We have no ethics to give a reference to the Armenian sources. Our media rather indicate foreign sources than refer their colleagues in Armenia,” says the expert.
Experts are unanimous that the main reason for the lack of information about the license is that it is less used in Armenia. According to Aleksey Chalabyan there is no awareness that there is copyright and intellectual property. That’s why people are often not interested in a license Creative Commons.
“Often it is indicated in the media that in case of attribution republication is admissible. In fact it is the same principle as that of the Creative Commons,” notes Chalabyan.
At the same time, according to him, the adoption of the license is not only civic position, but also can be used as a tool to promote recognition of the work. “If, for example, one permits to use his/her work in small formats, then in case of its becoming well-known, probably there may be people willing to acquire it. The presence of this license on the product also shows the flexibility and openness of the author,” adds Chalabyan.
Source: JNews.am