chosaq

Pollock on the value of the public domain

Here’s a reading tip: “The value of the public domain” by Rufus Pollock (via Lessig). The author uses the term “public domain” in a “commons” sense, as “synonymous with ‘open’ knowledge, that is, all ideas and information that can be freely used, redistributed and reused.”

I especially like these two paragraphs from 4. Conclusion (p 15) (emphasis mine):

When formulating policy the key variable to consider should be social value, which is the sum of commercial value and user value, rather than commercial value alone (in economists’ terminology: welfare rather than national income). The examples in this paper, as well as associated research, demonstrate that the value of the public domain, both actually and potentially is high.

This is not to disregard the role of monopoly rights such as copyright and patents in incentivising and coordinating a significant amount of cultural and industrial creativity. However, it does suggest that promoting and expanding the public domain in several key areas would yield large benefits for society in the form of increased access, greater development of complementary goods and services, and the ability to decentralise and widen the innovation process. [...]

Nothing especially mind-blowing here, but the “welfare rather than national income” bit is a great starting point for thinking about public domain related issues. Also interesting is the last sentence, in which Pollock connects public domain issues resp. with the open access movement, Red Hat like businesses (offering complementary services aside a free product), and the argument Tim Wu makes in his “Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Decentralized Decisions” essay (chosaq entry).