Open Ed - Week 6: Copyright and the Public Doman

Based on the readings for week 6 in the Introduction to Open Education Course, here are the questions we are pondering:

QUESTIONS: Understanding the importance and value of the public domain, how much (what percentage) of this value would you estimate is realized when works are licensed with a Creative Commons or GFDL license? To what degree would the open educational resources movement (and therefore the world) be additionally benefited if OERs were simply placed in the public domain? Please explain.

Question 1:

Understanding the importance and value of the public domain, how much (what percentage) of this value would you estimate is realized when works are licensed with a Creative Commons or GFDL license?


To answer this question, one must first agree that there is inherent *value* in the public domain and that this value is greater than can be found in copyrighted works. While I agree there is value in society being able to access works in the public domain, especially for education uses as discussed further below, I cannot overlook the value of copyright to both society and individual copyright holders. I believe copyright protections play a role in innovation. Individuals receive protections which allow them to benefit (financially and otherwise) from their works. In turn, these innovations better society. However, I also appreciate the lost value associated with copyright protections. As Pollack proposes in the Value of Public Domain, reduced barriers can encourage more people to be creators of derivative works. Further, as Lessig lays out in "Against perpetual copyright", I agree that there is much public good to be derived from limiting an indefinite "monopoly" on a work.

This brings us to a notion of "trade-offs" between copyright protections and the public domain. Pollack describes this trade-off in Some Theory and Empirics of Optimal Copyright where he notes on page 17:

"The basic trade-off inherent in copyright is between increasing protection to promote the creation of more work and reducing protection from existing work."

It also brings me a step closer to an answer to the question at hand. I feel that it is possible that Creative Commons and GGDL are just that trade-off. While creators of content receive more limited projections, society benefits from the work that is made more freely available. I would argue that the value of this trade-off depends on which license is used (the subject of next week's reading). Yet, I feel that Creative Commons and GFDL licensing offer a very high percentage of the value associated with the public domain. The individual receives some degree of protection and control over his or her works. In turn, society benefits form the increased access, reduced restrictions on use, and likely greater numbers of created works.

Question 2: To what degree would the open educational resources movement (and therefore the world) be additionally benefited if OERs were simply
placed in the public domain?


With regard to the OER movement (and education, in general), I feel the more open the work, the greater the value to society. Therefore, I feel for educational purposes, the "openness" of the public domain offers greater benefits than from either Creative Commons or GFDL licensing. I think that most of us share Brian Lamb's observation during his 2007 Open Ed keynote that when you see a CC at the bottom of a page, most of us think ... "oh, that guy is not a jerk" and consider the work freely available. However, that is clearly not the reality. As Pollock notes on page 3 of the Value of the Public Domain, "... 'freely' must be loosely interpreted ..."

This is especially the case with regard to the potential for non-commerical restrictions imposed by some creators. A non-commercial restriction poses a barrier to anyone who may want to use the works in the scope of a commercial educational venture. In addition, restrictions regarding the licensing of derivative works can also pose a problem, especially when works of different licenses are combineg. Therefore, to meet the needs of "open" education, I feel that the public domain provisions offer a far greater opportunity for openness than either Creative Commons of GFDL licenses.