Research at JAAK: Public good use cases in Image and Film
A blockchain for rights
Over the past few years we’ve been working at the intersection of rights and blockchain. Our goal is to build the world’s first blockchain rights network.
This has helped us to develop some core ideas:
- Rights have many of the same properties as user permissions in computer systems, i.e. read, write, edit, delete
- Rights can also be described as agreements between two or more parties that grant permissions to users of a system
- Rights vary across industries, though there are a set of shared principles and rules
- A blockchain system can enable the codifying, standardisation, and enforcement of rules that govern the agreements between parties and their permissions in a database
- We can use blockchain technology as the basis for unified, global, infrastructure for rights
Research at JAAK is where we take these ideas and seek to validate the assumptions through exploratory build-measure-learn cycles.
And so, we announce an initiative in the Image and Film industries, kindly supported by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), British Film Institute (BFI), Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies, (BAPLA) and Federation of Commercial Audiovisual Libraries (FOCAL).
We will be investigating how an open rights network could be utilised to assist with the preservation and availability of art within the UK. Specifically works that are either in the Public Domain, Out of Copyright, or Orphaned.
Public Domain & Out of Copyright works
Currently, these works are curated and maintained by institutions or guardians, that do so out of a mixture of passion and dedication, at their own cost. This dynamic ensures that works are conserved, for the good of the public, however, there are challenges.
Licensing is an interesting issue. While there isn’t active copyright at play, there still needs to be a mechanism for custodial organisations to pay for the storage, making available, and distribution of the works. In addition, when a public domain work is licensed there are often certain stipulations around its allowed usage — analogous to moral rights in music. This can be a challenge to manage once the work has been delivered to the licensee. Furthermore there are often related copyrights that are valid and do require a licence (such as a promotional poster that is in copyright for a film that is now out).
Accessibility of these works is limited to those who know where to go, leading to under-utilisation of works. Additionally, the best source for a high-quality version of the material can be be buried.
In fact, even the definition of whether a work is in the Public Domain or Out of Copyright can be a perilous issue. As laws change over time, and copies and derivative materials are created, a work’s status can become harder and harder to determine. Rule of thumb and informed estimates can be applied, however this invokes a risk premium, making the use of works increasingly less attractive.
Our belief is that by offering simpler ways of searching for Public Domain and Out of Copyright works across a comprehensive network, where users can quickly determine the state of a work, the location of it’s curator, and the terms of it’s allowable usage, will encourage their wider use in creative and artistic innovation.
Orphan works
The challenges in Orphan works are similar to those in the Public Domain and Out of Copyright, though there are a number of important differences.
Orphan works are still within copyright protection but the owners are either not known or cannot be contacted. This would mean that the work would remain in limbo, where the risk to exploit it would be too great for any potential user. However, there are some mechanisms to counter this issue.
The IPO will grant a time-boxed licence to a requester if they can prove that they have performed a thorough ‘diligent search’ for the missing copyright holders (see here for more info), providing assurances around liability for the exploitation. The money going to an escrow account, where if the owner isn’t found, then it is distributed out to wider public good causes after 8 years.
There is also the opportunity for cultural heritage institutions, archives, libraries, museums, educational establishments, and public service broadcasters in the UK to apply for an EU exception for orphan works, enabling use without the requirement for a license from the IPO, for non-commercial use.
The challenge, however, is in the resource required to perform this diligent search — there are a great number of sources that a potential licensee needs to check, which can act as a barrier to utilisation. For example, for still visual art, there are 37 primary sources, and 74 additional sources that the licensee could check.
We propose that there is an opportunity to utilise KORD as an open register of orphan works, building on and supporting the great work that the IPO is already doing. Further down the line we could look into bringing the reference sources into the network enabling a quicker diligent search process.
Closing remarks ✊
We are extremely excited about the potential for an open public rights network in supporting the availability and use of Public Domain, Out of Copyright, and Orphan works.
We will be developing these ideas over the coming months, leading to validated assumptions for commercial and product efforts.
We thank our partners in this initiative, for their continued support as we build our understanding and explore solutions. This is an open and public group, and so if you are interested in getting involved then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Finally, if you want to keep up to date on this or any of our other developments, then you can join the KORD public slack here or join our mailing list here.
