Wikipedia defines copyright as the
legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator
of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution,
usually for a limited time (typically the life of the creator, plus
fifty to a hundred years), with the intention of enabling the creator
to receive compensation for their intellectual effort. The original
intent of copyright law was designed to promote the creation of new
works by giving creators control of and profit from the work.
Although the original copyright law appeared well-intentioned, it has
often been interrupted in ways that focus only on the financial gain
of the creator or corporation, and does little to promote the
creation of original work. Creative works are thankfully developed
when creators have the creative fire to do so and copyright law
appears to have little impact on when, how, or why the work is
created.
Creative Commons offers a more flexible
approach to copyright law. Creative Commons is a not-for-profit
organization that promotes the creative reuse of intellectual and
artistic works – whether owned or in the public domain. The
Creative Common provides creators the ability to allow others to use
their works for commercial purposes, or not; to make derivative
works, or not. Creative Commons was based on the idea of universal
access to research, education, and culture, made possible by the
Internet. The Internet did not exist in the original copyright law
era and the new technology does not fit within the laws as they were
originally designed. Creative Commons offers creators the ability to
select which license works for them when they have completed their
work and they will no longer need to field requests to use their
work. There are several options to choose from that can allow creators to be
as limited or unlimited with their work as they choose; even allowing
full rights to modify the work as long as some integrity remains in the
original work. The only downside that I have noticed in Creative Commons is
that there does not appear to be a way to update or change the
creator's original option. It would be ideal if a creator could
choose one type of license and then ten years later change the
option, based on their lifestyle changes.
In my opinion, I believe that Creative
Commons is a model that allows for better collaboration between
creators and users and retains the original intention of copyright
law, which is to promote creation of new works.
