Compliance Toolkit

Government intellectual property under scrutiny

Tags:
Whitehall,
Government,
Creative Commons

Kable

Published: 30 Jun 2005 16:05 BST

The Common Information Environment (CIE) has commissioned a study on the potential for the deployment of Creative Commons licences or their equivalent.

These have been developed in North America and set out a framework within which intellectual-property (IP) owners can make their work available for reuse, but a set of UK specific licences were launched in March. It involves various levels of protection under a set of licences distinct from copyright.

Dr Paul Miller, director of the CIE, told Government Computing News on 30 June, 2005 that the main emphasis of the study is on content that has been created and made available for reuse. As things stand, there are inconsistencies in the licensing agreements used by different organisations, and this creates uncertainty among users.

"It's currently under a wide range of licences and formulas," he said. "It's generally quite permissive, but often written in legalese, and it's difficult to work out what you can and can't do with the content.

"Individual departments or Web sites are quite open about what content they are making available, but there is problem when people try to use more than one of them."

He said the Creative Commons framework could provide more consistency and clarity for users.

Intrallect, a specialist in learning object management systems, and the AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at Edinburgh University are carrying out the study. It is funded by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, the British Library, the Department for Education and Skills, JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee) and MLA (the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) on behalf of the CIE Group.

The two organisations are due to complete the report by late August, following which the CIE will decide how to take the issue forward. Miller said it would probably involve an educational process to make public sector bodies aware of the advantages of Creative Commons.

"This study will go a long way towards recommending a suitable infrastructure to enable greater accessibility without users having to negotiate complicated legal terms and conditions," he said.

The CIE is a collaborative group of number of public sector bodies across the UK. Members include Becta, the British Library, the Cabinet Office's e-Government Unit, the Department for Education & Skills (DfES), the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and The National Archives.