COMPULSORY LICENSING OF INFORMATION

" DOES DIGITAL FILE SHARING RENDER COPYRIGHTS OBSOLETE?"

Headline in the Business Section of THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE 6/4/07




Recently the World Health Organization voted by an
overwhelming majority to support the compulsory
licensing of prescription drugs by member states
such as Brazil and Thailand, which are now
manufacturing their own AIDS drugs to save lives
without paying the pharmaceutical companies
the exorbitant fees most countries cannot afford.
The sole dissenter was the United States, which,under
the Bush administration, has been relentless in its
pursuit of The Almighty Dollar" - AKA
intellectual property rights" - worldwide.


A tour of Asian capitals - or a visit to New York's
Canal Street - reveals this will be an uphill struggle.
One cannot advocate" free markets", and then complain
about cheap, high-quality knock-offs in the same
breath. And the ugly issue of class distinctions lurks
behind the desire to flaunt in-your-face-affluence.
As a Thai politician asked recently, " Why shouldn't
poorer people be allowed to look their best?"

A good question, which I will leave to my wonderful
former students at New York's Fashion Institute of
Technology ( home of many winners of "PROJECT RUNWAY"!)
to resolve as creatively as they did their work
in my classroom.

As a lecturer in Multimedia and a filmmaker, however,
I am more interested in the issue of compulsory
licensing of information. For example, can a poor
post conflict society like East Timor be
expected to pay Western rates for films about
her own history?

Let us suppose some East Timorese filmmakers wanted
to make a film to show future generations how their
country became a nation. Clearly, they would need
stock footage from Western sources to give their film
some historical depth and texture. In the bad old days
of film and video, getting such material was a costly
procedure; however, today, in the digital age, making
a perfect duplicate of an original is a simple and
inexpensive procedure.

So, the remaining issue is the one of licensing - ie,
paying for the use of the material. Happily enough,
it has been my experience that both musical and film
artists in the Western world are usually generous
enough to agree to a rock-bottom "courtesy fee"
for use of their work in non-profit projects.

The rule of thumb seems to be that assisting a worthy,
not-for-profit project (such as the history of East
Timor!) might generate some good public relations, and
that preventing the project from becoming a reality
by charging astronomical rates is
in no one's interest...

No one , that is, except for those who do not wish the
film to be shown - or who wish to keep East Timor in a
chaotic state. Such individuals might include those
in the Indonesian military who still cannot accept
the fact that East Timor is an independent nation,
and who are hoping that the country will eventually
be declared a " failed nation state" by the
powers-that-be, justifying a second Indonesian
annexation.

Anyone who is familiar with recent history in East
Timor knows these individuals exist; their existence
makes it all the more imperative that the TRUE story
of the creation of East Timorese told to future
generations of East Timorese, not to mention the
rest of the world.

Bad things often happen in murky corners.

The key issue in East Timor today is economic
development, but this development will be easier
with an informed populace.

Under the Indonesians, the Timorese did have radio
and television, but,in 1999, the communications
infrastructure was completely destroyed by the
retreating Indonesian army, along with most
everything else.

Since then, getting messages out to the
population has been a major challenge,
given the very limited electric grid available.

It is imperative that the new nation has access
to these basic communications tools NOW. It is
also imperative that new television stations
like TVTL have access to programming -
even if they can't afford it. ( An aside: I am
compelled to admit that TVTL's predecessor
under UNTAET, Televisao UNTAET, showed everything
it could find without paying a penny to
anyone . I regrettably was not in charge, but I
supported this policy wholeheartedly.


To the best of my knowledge, no one ever
complained. After all, it was no secret that
East Timor was Asia's poorest nation, with
a per capita income of less than $1 a day.

And had anyone ever complained, I think one
could have made a strong case for compulsory
licensing of information in East Timor.

Especially if the material in question was
about the country itself.

Which is certainly is the case with my film
on the recent history of East Timor, EAST TIMOR:
BETRAYAL AND RESURRECTION, (the subject of previous
blogs) , which former President Xanana Gusmao now
wants to sell in the National Museum of Timor-Leste,
and which non-profit organizations like ETAN and
The Foundation for Post Conflict Development have
been using to raise support for East Timor
in the US.

A week or so ago, the Foundation for Post Conflict
Development was about to show the film as part of
TIMOR-LESTE CULTURE WEEK when an e-mail surfaced
from a representative of an Australian filmmaker
named Carmela Baranowska claiming that
I had "pirated" her material without consulting
her, This was not the case; I had been
under the impression that I had her oral
permission for non-commercial uses like
this one, an arrangement that is fairly
standard in such cases.

However, I was well aware that, in the words
of the legendary Sam Goldwyn, " An oral contract
isn't worth the paper its written on!"

So I attempted to negotiate a courtesy fee for
non-commercial screenings. I offered $1000, but
she wanted $75,000 (!) an astronomical fee by
any standards, and almost double the budget of
the entire film.

Needless to say,negotiations broke down, and
the film could not be shown as announced, which
was a shame for all concerned.

Personally, I had long ago written off this
project as a very emotionally and intellectually
gratifing financial loss, but I was very upset
that the very organizations I was trying to
help were now being prevented from using the
film by an individual whose motivation was,
at best, suspect.

All I can now do is promise these organizations
my continued support with this and future
projects, and assure them that next time I will
be sure all licensing agreements are in
writing.

In the meantime, there is nothing I can do to
prevent anyone from making as many copies as
they want from the DVDs already in circulation.

And, if there is a God in heaven, the film
will become an underground classic on YouTube
and similar file sharing sites.

Indeed, as a recent article in THE INTERNATIONAL
HERALD TRIBUNE suggests, digital file sharing
on YouTube and other websites by the younger
generation is rapidly making traditional film
and music copyrights obsolete."Royalty
groups paralyzed by ethos of YouTube,"
notes the reporter.

In the immortal words of Bob Dylan,
" The times they are a-changin.."

As for East Timor, well, nothing would make me
prouder than if the new President issued a decree
asserting the compulsory licensing of the film
in the name of Timor-leste. Then the film would
belong to those who should have owned it all
along - the people of Timor-leste.

A luta continua..