On 21 and 22 February, Doc Next Network attended a workshop on intellectual property related to media and culture. This two-day workshop in London gave a comprehensive view of copyright law, so that we are able to understand why copyright exists and how it works.
Central issue how can copyright law serve the purposes, goals and needs of the participants and the Doc Next media collection.
Given the existing legal framework, we analysed the law to see what licences would be the best fit for our media collection. We focused on open licences like Creative Commons, to see why they were created and how they work. As a conclusion and practical outcome the workshop ended proposing, with the contribution of all the participants, we chose the legal tool that can best serve our goals.
During the workshop we encountered a void within the legal system considering copylaw: no legal tool fits so-called mashups or other derivative works. Workshop moderators Eva Sòria (historian) and Abel Garriga (attorney) took the challenge and will stay involved in Doc Next Networks quest for an alternative copyright / -left.
