RSA Lecture: Public Domain: Enclosing The Commons of The Mind

Haberdasherylondon attended James Boyle's lecture based on his recent book "Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind" at the RSA last night (Tuesday the 10th of March 2009).

It was an absolutely riveting lecture delivered to a packed house. James espoused the ways IP law both in England and abroad are failing society as a whole, especially with regards to copyright in the realm of science, as well as through the stifling of the emergence of new business models outside of the licensing of IP portfolios.

Certainly one of the most interesting examples he provided were that over 80% of all copyright material in the USA has no known owner (an orphan work) and/or has had no commercial use to date, leaving the copyright status as an impediment to the appropriation of this material by society.

Furthermore, IBM, has the largest IP portfolio in the world, but since they recently began making a small percentage of their material open source, their revenues from open source consulting have surpassed their revenues from the IP portfolio.

Powerful examples, from a powerful lecture, and a fascinating book.

The Associates
Haberdasherylondon