[Commons-Law] The foolishness of stifling creativity

[prabhu ram]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/27/opinion/edming.php


The foolishness of stifling creativity

Francisco Mingorance International Herald Tribune

Published: June 27, 2006


BRUSSELS Intellectual property

Europe today is home to a confused debate over the value of
intellectual property. Put simply, some want to reward intellectual
property while others are striving to penalize it.

Outside Europe, this debate has become the subject of much head-
scratching. India recently adopted new and robust intellectual
property laws and, last year, China overtook Britain, France and
Germany by filing more patents for inventions than the three leading
European economies combined. In April, countries as diverse as
Australia and the Ukraine celebrated World Intellectual Property Day
in tribute to the role of intellectual property in turning ideas into
products, whether it be song or sculpture or software.

Some in Europe respect intellectual property, too. In the run-up to
the World Cup, Germany mounted a campaign on the theme "Land of Ideas"
that celebrates the country's great artists, chemists, engineers,
designers and inventors. It highlights inventions such as Adi
Dassler's first football shoe with cleats, which helped Germany win
the 1954 World Cup; Bayer aspirin; automobiles; polyurethane; cinema
projectors; lasers; solar panels; reconnaissance robots;
traffic-guidance systems; new glues; intelligent textiles, and even an
"intelligent" beer mat.

Germany's message is clear: Its economic power today is a product of
its inventive passion of the past.

France, on the other hand, has been debating amendments to the
European Union's Copyright Directive that would force companies to
give away proprietary technology to their competitors and expose the
creative community to increased digital piracy.

Success in France, it seems, is only welcome if it is "made in France"
- an attitude that is dangerously out of step with the evolution of
ideas on technology and the role of technical standards in promoting
prosperity.

In a global economy, how can France expect other countries to respect
the patents, trademarks and copyrights of its inventors - who have
included such famous figures as Rudolf Diesel (diesel engine), Blaise
Pascal (first digital calculator) and Jean Foucault (the gyroscope) -
if it displays such open disregard for the intellectual property
rights of others?

What's happening in France today isn't just about digital music, either.

It is centered on the broader debate over the value of intellectual
property. Intellectual property, and specifically copyright
protection, gives every author of a creative work, amateur or not, the
choice and freedom to distribute and protect the fruit of their
creativity. Choice and flexibility is embedded, by design, in modern
copyright law.

The debate in France is being watched closely by other countries in
Europe, including the Netherlands and Sweden, where courts and
politicians have come out in favor of file-sharers at the expense of
people and companies whose life works have been usurped by lawless
profiteers, and where many big-time pirates and counterfeiters have
faced a proverbial slap on the wrist for their sins.

The bottom line is that technologies and inventions that have become
indispensable - from portable music players to off-road bicycles to
biofuels, microchips, life-saving drugs and mobile phones - would not
exist if it weren't for the incentive that intellectual property
offers to creative individuals and companies to invest their time and
energy. Europe would do well to remember that as it pursues the
ambitious goal of overtaking the United States in competitiveness.

Europe's global competitors clearly understand the links between
intellectual property and economic prosperity. Europe - and countries
such as France in particular - ought to respect those links, lest
neglect of intellectual property lead to economic, technological and
cultural stagnation.

Francisco Mingorance is European director of public policy for the
Business Software Alliance.