"GET CREATIVE" Script / 06:43 / 09.03.04 ...................................................................... TITLE: GET CREATIVE (being the origin and adventures of the creative commons licensing project.) ------------------------------ A / 00:00 - 01:22 ------------------------------ These are Jack and Meg White. Also known as the White Stripes. They are a band from detroit. They make rock and roll without a bass guitarist. [00:00 - 00:14] This is Steve McDonald of the veteran band Redd Kross. Steve though the White Strip es could use a bass player so he appointed himself. [00:16 - 00:25] He took the White Stripes album called White Blood Cells [00:25 - 00:28] and re-recorded it laying a bass track down on every song. then he released the results as mp3s on redd kross' website. he even made up a new album cover and title... Redd Blood Cells. [00:28 - 00:42] McDonald began putting these copyrighted songs online without permission from the White Stripes or their record label. During the project, he bumped into Jack White who gave him spoken assent to continue. [00:41 - 00:53] it can be that easy when you skip the intermediaries. [00:55 - 01:01] ------------------------------ B / 00:00 - 00:38 ------------------------------ Collaboration across space and time. [00:00 - 00:03] Creative coauthorship with people you've never met. [00:03 - 00:06] Standing on the shoulders of your peers. [00:06 - 00:09] It's what the internet is all about. [00:09 - 00:12] It can be that easy when you skip the intermediaries. [00:12 - 00:17] But couldn't it be easier still? [00:17 - 00:20] Not many of us are liable to just bump into Jack White and get the green light. [00:20 - 00:25] And he's not going to let just anyone play the bass over his songs in any case. [00:25 - 00:29] But what about other artists who might want you or me to play along.[00:30 - 00:34] Shouldn't we be able to, if they don't mind? [00:34 - 00:38] ------------------------------ C.1 / 00:00 - 00:44 ------------------------------ Enter one of the internet's most famous citizen's. A face familiar the world over. A public identity rivaled by only a handful of corporate giants and global superstars... the big copyright C. [00:00 - 00:12] Everyone knows what Big C stands for. [00:12 - 00:14] Big C means ALL RIGHTS RESERVED [00:14 - 00:18] Big C means ASK PERMISSION [00:18 - 00:21] Big C protects copyright owners and notifies the rest of us of their ownership. [00:21 - 00:27] Time was you had to put Big C on anything you wanted to copyright or else it entered the public domain - the commons of information where nothing is owned and all is permitted. [00:27 - 00:37] You had to put the world on notice to warn them. That was Big C's job and it was a useful one. [00:37 - 00:44] ------------------------------ C.2 / 00:00 - 00:28 ------------------------------ What changed? The law. By the late 1980s U.S. law had changed so that works become copyrighted automatically the moment they're made. [00:00 - 00:10] The moment you hit save on that research paper... [00:10 - 00:12] the second the shutter snaps closed... [00:12 - 00:15] the instant you lift your pen from that coctail napkin doodle... [00:15 - 00:19] your creation is copyrighted whether Big C makes a cameo or not. [00:19 - 00:24] So suddenly there's no quick way of knowing whether something is owned or not. [00:24 - 00:28] ------------------------------ C.3 / 00:00 - 00:14 ------------------------------ The new rules may be clear about how you get to own a work... you don't have to do anything. [00:00 - 00:05] But they say nothing at all about how you should go about announcing that you want to allow certain uses of your work. [00:05 - 00:14] ------------------------------ D / 00:00 - 00:28 ------------------------------ So what? Well, if you're a digital filmmaker whose every frame must be cleared by an army of lawyers before making the cut [00:00 - 00:07] Or if you're in a band whose label won't let you put a song on a file sharing network. [00:07 - 00:13] Or if you're a professor trying to put together online course materials [00:13 - 00:16] Or if you're a dj chasing down permission to use every snippet of song in your sonic collage. [00:16 - 00:23] if you're one of these people then you know 'so what'. [00:23 - 00:28] ------------------------------ E / 00:00 - 00:34 ------------------------------ We interrupt this brainstorm to call the lawyers. [00:00 - 00:02] You drop what you're doing and call all the lawyers, you ask for permission, even to use a work whose author doesn't mind if you use it. because you have no idea what the author's intent is. [00:02 - 00:14] You ask for permission even to share some of your rights. [00:14 - 00:17] Or you venture forward unsure what your rights and risks are exactly. [00:17 - 00:22] Or in a haze of legal doubt you do nothing. [00:22 - 00:27] Bottom line: Big C is out of a job. The middlemen are not. [00:27 - 00:34] ------------------------------ F.1 / 00:00 - 00:19 ------------------------------ Enter Creative Commons. [00:00 - 00:02] Creative Commons wanted to find an easy way to help people tell the world up front that they want to allow some uses of their work. [00:00 - 00:10] We called the experts, the U.S. Copyright office, for advice. Their response, "There's no real answer. Get creative." So we got greative! [00:10 - 00:19] ------------------------------ F.2 / 00:00 - 00:24 ------------------------------ How? Our CC Brand marks works that are governed by Creative Commons Licenses. [00:00 - 00:06] A set of standardized copyright licenses that are available free-of-charge on our website. [00:06 - 00:11] We wrote these licenses so that lawyers and courts could read them. [00:11 - 00:16] Then we translated them into a language that YOU can read. [00:16 - 00:19] Then we translated them into a language computers can read. [00:19 - 00:24] ------------------------------ F.3 / 00:00 - 00:29 ------------------------------ Now CC isn't meant to compete with copyright, but to complement it. [00:00 - 00:05] It allows you to retain your copyright while granting the world permission to make certain uses of it upon certain conditions. [00:05 - 00:12] If the Big C is like a red light then CC is a green light. [00:12 - 00:16] If the Big C says "no trespassing", the double C says "please come in". [00:16 - 00:22] If the Big C says "all rights reserved", CC says "some rights reserved". [00:22 - 00:29] ------------------------------ G / 00:00 - 00:30 ------------------------------ So you can use the powers of the net to find works free to share and build upon and to invite other people to transform or trade yours [00:00 - 00:09] So that *you can 'get creative' not only with *what you make but *how you make it available. [00:09 - 00:15] So *you can collaborate across space and time. [00:15 - 00:19] So *you can be a coauthor with someone you've never met. [00:19 - 00:22] So *you can stand on the shoulders of your peers. [00:22 - 00:25] All without asking permission, because permission has already been granted. [00:25 - 00:30] ------------------------------ H / 00:00 - 00:09 ------------------------------ Creative Commons. Get Creative. It's easy when you skip the intermediaries. [00:00 - 00:09] The End.