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April 21, 2021

Comment: Importance of the Concept of ‘Public Domain’ vis-à-vis Intellectual Property Rights

Author: Sri Lekha

In terms of creativity, the world is our oyster for inspiration. However, there is a limit on the extent and scope of what one could use to create and innovate owing to statutory safeguards vested with creators of intellectual properties. For instance, Copyrights Act, 1957 and Patents Act, 1970 confer exclusive rights to the creators or inventors in their works and any unauthorized use thereof is liable to be punished for infringement. As a result, most creators or inventors resort to what is available for common use in the public domain (viz. the commons).

It may be argued that ‘Labour Theory’ propounded by John Locke (viz. recognition of fruit borne as a result of one’s own labour) when examined with reference to Intellectual Property Rights, may act as a basis for granting exclusive rights in intellectual property.

To truly innovate create and develop, however, one requires access to resources. Public domain merely helps level the field in terms of access to material to legally create and innovate. Some of the prominent proponents of the concept of public domain are – ‘Copyleft’, a movement which allows free grant of the right to distribute and utilize intellectual property and ‘Creative Commons’, a nonprofit organization which enables knowledge sharing and creativity through a standardized way of granting copyright permissions for creative works such that creators/innovators are allowed to copy, distribute, and make use of others’ works.

Public domain, thus, should be seen as an important resource and also be expanded often as it helps in boosting creativity. It is imperative that a balance be created between monopoly of rights over creations/inventions and the availability of the same to further innovation.

Another recurring argument against the concept of public domain is that easy and free access of intellectual property works would diminish the value thereof like a free plot of land which would eventually lose its value when it is made available for all animals to graze upon. However, the author reiterates that free access to more works shall only boost creativity and foster inventions to cater to the modern sensibilities, tastes and desires. For instance, sampling of music is a common practice in the music industry, where pieces of sound recordings from existing works are incorporated in a new work. Beethoven’s ‘Symphony 5’ is a piece which is often covered in different genres, yet the author believes there is no loss of appeal in the original work and rather, the work only gains a wide outreach for generations and could still be termed relevant.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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