Icommons.org

Applying a Creative Commons licence to works has become second nature to thousands of creators around the world. But for many writers, musicians, artists and researchers, proving authorship and when the work was licensed, is less easy ‘ especially if they are first time or inexperienced CC users. In the wild frontiers of the internet, it’s still relatively easy to claim a piece of work as your own. And while a return to restrictive, hands-up-or-I’ll-shoot copyright is not something anyone wants, there is still the question of regulation.

Enter the new kid in town, RegisteredCommons. Based at the University of Applied Sciences in Vorarlberg in Austria, RegisteredCommons offers creators the opportunity to attach a stamp specifying the date and time of licensing to their work. Essentially, this adds another layer of legal protections to works licensed under CC, and in the case of a legal dispute, there can be no doubt about whether the work is license or not.

Launched in Berlin at the Wizards of OS conference this September, RegisteredCommons already boasts several works, including music, a cake recipe and the German version of Lawrence Lessig’s book, Free Culture.

But We’ve Got CC, Why Do We Need RC Too?
“Applying a [CC] licence is sufficient for various applications. However, in the case of an infringement, the proof of the exact licensing date’�may become essential,” says Dr Roland Alton-Scheidl, from the University of Applied Sciences. RegisteredCommons is, he says, a service for professional remixers, who need maximum security, cautious creators who want to protect their work against licence infringements and licensors who want to clearly state where their work may or may not be used.

This last point is a major component of RegisteredCommons. Moral rights, says Alton-Scheidl are something that authors were very concerned about when he told them about using CC licences for their work. “They responded that they don’t want their work shown up in specific contexts, like fascist magazines, for example.” He hopes that RegisteredCommons can provide another level of transparency and security to the moral rights of authors.

So, How Does It Work?
It’s very simple, really. All you need to do is register your work with RegisteredCommons. Either the creator of the work, the publisher or the net-label can do this. Once you’re registered, your work will be listed on the RegisteredCommons website. Attached to your work will be a time and date stamp, specifying exactly when and where your work was registered. This will be retained for up to seven years. RegisteredCommons will also send a physical time and date stamp to you by snail mail if you so desire.

And How Do We Know You’re Legit?
Obviously, proving the trustworthiness of the people who register their work with RegisteredCommons is very important. They use a system of ‘trust points’ to gauge the relative security of those registering. Roland Alton-Scheidl explains: “Depending on the level of registration, you will register with anything between 1 and 5 trust points. If you only let us verify your email address, it’s not very secure, and you’ll only get one point. We recommend that users register with CAcert, and get a web-client certificate which is then automatically recognised by RegisteredCommons.”

And They’re Democrats In Practice, Too
RegisteredCommons is run as a co-op, which means that it is owned by it’s members. “Initiatives and portals should be owned and steered by their users,” says Alton-Scheidl. “A co-operative offers the highest levels of transparency, and is controlled by three boards and the general assembly.” The good news, however, is that it is possible to become a member of this co-op. Users can buy shares in RegisteredCommons, which then allows them to be involved in the annual election of board members.

For more information about RegisteredCommons, and to register your work, visit their website.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 25th, 2006 at 4:25 16 and is filed under iCommons, Enterprise Commons, Open Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.