Waging War against the Technological Monster: Which way forward on Intellectual Property right?

 Copyright Workshop 20th March, 2009 (Download)

One of the most important aspects of information management aspects is that Intellectual property rights. If innovateness in Kenya has to be promoted to a level witnessed by advanced nations, then no doubt, steakeholders in information sector ought to take decisive steps to safeguard intellectual works that are a product of its citizens. The intellectual rights laws such as those on copyright, patent, etc, ought to be refined to block all te lopeholes that expose the already protected works to piracy and unfair use.

Never before has the status quo been so challenged as in our times when technology has twisted logic to levels of absurdity. Of great concern is the advent of photocopiers, high speed  scanners, computers, the Ineternet, etc. The last two have virtualised knowledge, meaning that, knowledge availability is no longer within physical boundaries. Though these two aspects as IFLA and UAP,- about the universal availability of publications (read knowledge), they have opened a pandoras box on the side of intellectual property rights protections.

The early days of copyright were uneventful. Countries that adopted the Berne Convention of 1886 and went ahead to come up with their own Copyright legislation based on the framework of the convention, did so in the early days of technological development. It was was not easy to copy / reproduce documents as access and cost of copying machines were not within the reach of many people. Therefore, implemention of the copyright law was easy.

Then came in technological innovation. first was the photocopy machine (Xerox). This began the modern age in copyright, throwing things into disarray. Next, came home sound tape recording, video recording, and now -the biggest threat of all to copyright -the computer - the ultimate copying machine.

The change from hard copy to digitized materials is really much greater than just a change in the method of copying. Up until now, there has always been a physical object that could be referred to. Something you could hold in your hand.

And up until very recent, most copies were inferior forms of the original. Photocopies were of a lower quality than a printed book or article. Home sound recordings are inferior to professionally produced ones. And of course video CD’s are deplorable. So they aren't really great rivals for the originals.

Pirated meterial being destroyed enmass. Is this a losing battle?

 

Today, we have digital information, information stored on a computer. That information can be copied exactly, with no loss of quality, with the touch of a few keys. The Internet has not made things any better. With just a few keystrokes, information can be send and shared with millions of people across the globe without even the source being aware that it is happenning.

Information Professionals: Chatting the way forward

Libraries and other information centres that act as custodians ought to consider themselves as intellectual property shareholders by trust deed. They hold information and avail it to ever needy users as part of their  business on behalf of the "real owners". As such the policy of Fair Use is adopted to check the rampant replication of the works that they hold.

With more and more people using the Internet technology, ensuring the operation of Fair Use is a challenging task. Besides, publications are not only existing in hard copy format but in soft and multmedia format. Not to mention that the same information could also be available in multiple other sites on the Internet and Portals. To this end, a refocus, is required on the part of these stakeholders (shareholder?). A more adaptive approach is required to tackle the technological challenge.

 Workshop Series

As our contribution to the shaping of the Intellectual Property terrain in the era of technological hyperdevelopmen, we are bringing to the Kenyan information worker / professional a series of workshops and seminars that will provide an environemnt of learning, discussion and challenging of status quo that the present copyright  and patent legislation tends to adopt.

The first workshop in the series is:

1. Copyright Briefing: The Challenges of the Digital Age on copyright
2. The State of Copyright Activism in Kenya
3. Piracy, fraud and Copyright - Is Kenya at the corssroads?