Science, research, and knowledge creation can also happen in unexpected places. The result is often a work protected by copyright, and works such as texts, images, graphics, sounds, software used in the research process are protected. Access to information for investigation is one of the intellectual property issues that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is preparing to work on.
Twenty years ago, open access emerged to respond to the profound closure of the research space. The academic publishing industry was accused of making too much profit from scientific publishing, while it was expensive and academics were barred from accessing specialist scientific literature. Open access seeks to voluntarily change the way researchers disseminate their research results, as scientific articles should not be disseminated with the logic of creative industries, and their sustainability model is also different. Open licenses gave these people the power to decide to change the logic of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved”.
A few years later the discussion broadened, and from that point of view we went from asking for open access to talking about open science. That said, we need to go beyond open access to broaden the right to science and research. For the charisma I work with, open science seeks to open up the spectrum of possibilities for doing science through increased collaboration and continuous information exchange, contributing to the evolution of science and having high-impact practices. Public interest benefit. Science and research do not just happen among academics at specialized institutions, nor do they just work on scientific articles, and indeed there are copyright challenges.
In 2021 the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science It implemented this expanded agenda and maintained intellectual property rights as an element of consideration. The text addresses open licenses and the public domain as tools for the development of open science and for opening dialogue between different stakeholders on various topics, including intellectual property. The reality is that it’s not enough to voluntarily use open licenses or wait for the passage of time for works to lose protection; It also refers to strengthening the system’s flexibility, such as “exceptions to copyright and other intellectual property rights for research”. and education that permits the distribution and reuse of a copyrighted work.”
WIPO also addresses this meeting. Authorized work in operations on exceptions and limitations for various topics, including research (document SCCR/43/8). In this framework, they commissioned Professor Rahul Glapbarter to conduct a study published with the title. “An Examination of the Practices and Challenges of Research Institutions and the Purposes of Copyright-Related Research” It will remain open for comments until January 12.
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The report provides a good account of the intersection between research and intellectual property, from scientific publications, to their professional production and dissemination within the framework of institutions that traditionally handle these works. It shows the most important challenges in the field, recognizes the space opened up by open licenses, concludes that exceptions are needed to guarantee research work and talks about paid licenses. Also, it decreases. For example, the state of technological development is a survey compiled in discussions focused on scientific publications twenty years ago; Today we know that is not enough.
Xalabarter’s approach is limited to what research is, the organizations that facilitate it, and who does it – and who can be considered a researcher. Its focus is on professional researchers and research organizations leaving research activities in science clubs, hackerspaces, tribal or agricultural communities, citizen science and civic technology labs. The exemptions thus created do not cover all non-profit research activities, as the context restricts.
On the other hand, although the report recognizes that the digital environment has changed the research environment, it does not address the way in which technology, protected software, is doing. WIPO software as an object of research cannot be forgotten. Doing so does not address technical challenges related to the public interest that have already emerged in other international regulatory agendas where copyright has been recognized as a risk to investigators. For example, cyber security, technological obsolescence, procedural transparency – including artificial intelligence, democracy – monitoring software in elections, or the digital economy – the extent to which copyright hinders understanding of the remuneration of content creators. On the platforms?
I am surprised by the lack of reference to the connection between intellectual property and the right to research and science found in Epidemics. Inquiries in our countries, in times of emergency, are not, for many reasons, in the same conditions for doing so and obtaining remedies; With an inflexible copyright system that doesn’t allow research on vaccines, modifies ventilators, or guarantees that libraries can provide remote access to their materials, they don’t have the legal protection to do something that people in other countries can do.
Finally, while the report addresses the duality between protected and non-protected jobs, it does not address gray areas. Unpublished works held in archives and libraries They are the primary source of many investigations with obvious legal risks due to copyright for those who do them. An example: those researching 19th and 20th century music tend to do better with European classical music scores than with Colombian music. Since there was no market or music publishers here at the time, the National Library’s scores are considered unpublished manuscripts, with no legal certainty of passing into the public domain, as in Europe.
Pedro’s government has a new opportunity to present its views by January 12 to align its international agenda at the forum. You can draw inspiration from UNESCO’s recommendation and your own approach to a balanced intellectual property system. It is a worthwhile endeavor joint, and in which at least the Minciencias, MinSalud, MinCultura, Mincomercio and the National Copyright Directorate must participate, which guides the work of the Presidency. They can open up ideas from other interested actors and shape the state of the country. Is it too much to dream?
