Over the course of this week, BBC Radio 4 is running a series of programmes looking at "the global war between the defenders of intellectual property and those determined to share it". Called "Mine All Mine", each programme will be at 3.45pm.
Whilst I think that "global war" might be taking things a bit too far, there's certainly a number of IP policies that are the subject of an ongoing and heated discussion, and this series looks to be a good introduction to that discussion. The UK IPO email bulletin about the BBC4 series gave the following programme overview:
"My Idea -Monday 25 February 15:45-16:00
Most scientists and inventors want to protect their work with patents, filing hundreds of thousands every year. But without patents could the world have cheaper healthcare and more efficient cars?My Name- Tuesday 26 February 15:45-16:00
Trademarks have to be protected, but should anyone be allowed to trademark a colour or a phrase? And is it really a sin to buy a fake Rolex watch?My Music- Wednesday 27 February 15:45-16:00
The music industry has been revolutionised by the internet explosion. With free music available online, why should anyone pay for it?My Pictures-Thursday 28 February 15:45-16:00
Anyone with a broadband computer can now download and watch virtually any movie free of charge. This is illegal, but the chances of being prosecuted are close to zero. Some consider this the death of an industry, but others call it healthy anarchy.My Words-Friday 29 February 15:45-16:00
Plagiarism has become a nightmare for teachers, publishers and journalists. Anyone from a lowly GCSE student to a high-profile writer can easily copy a chunk of text from a website, and it is equally easy to catch someone doing so. But there are those who defend the free exchange of other people's words as a basic liberty."
If you're interested in taking a deeper look at the issues covered in the series, a good place to start is one of the books by Laurence Lessig, an excellent writer and advocate for "free culture", who is also the speaker at this year's SCL Lecture. (In fact, as we've previously noted on the blog, if you don't want to buy one of Lessig's books, you can legitimately download a copy from his website because they are Creative Commons licensed.)
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