Ted Nelson on Copyright in Cyberspace
The on-line copyright problem may be resolvable by a simple, sweeping permission method. This proposed system, which anyone may use, allows broad re-use of materials in exchange for automatic tracking of ownership. Payment goes to the original publisher
and credit to the original author. Nothing is misquoted, nothing is out of context (since the original context is immediately available), and users are not spied upon.
A wording and an abbreviation for this permission system are proposed here.
INTRODUCTION
Someone who asks, "How do we keep people from stealing food?" is asking you to consider only his side of the issue, without addressing underlying problems. But it might be sensible to ask another question in reply. If we ask, "How can the people obtain f
ood?", perhaps both problems can be solved together.
That is how I see the issue of copyright in digital media. Those who merely
ask, "How do we prevent copyright infringement?" are only asking the first
question without addressing the second. There is a hunger for the re-use of
media. If we can find a legitimate way to feed this hunger, then perhaps the stealing will not be necessary.
Today's central controversy seems to be the question of how to manage copyright and royalty on the sale of digital content.
The standard question has been, "How do we prevent infringement?" If we
re-frame the question as "How can we allow re-use?", the solution may be simpler and more powerful than everyone thinks, with benefits for everyone.
This reformulates an idea which occurred to the author in the fall of 1960, and which since then has been an implicit part of the Xanadu Project (1), an
ambitious system of hypermedia publishing servers with deep version management. Because the project has been controversial and beset with difficulties, our fundamental copyright proposal was not understood. And because this method was embedded in the so
ftware that had been designed for the Xanadu project, it was not recognized or expounded as a separate legal permission doctrine.
In this paper, we now separate that copyright method from its software history, and present it as a method anyone can use. It is a legal permission doctrine with far-reaching consequences, whose benefits may be considerable.
THE OBJECTIVE
From the beginning, the objective of Project Xanadu was to facilitate a new kind of literature: a new populist medium, a many-to-many publishing system, not centralized in editorial and publishing companies, but open to anyone. It was intended to create
a new kind of freedom of the press, and make possible a deeper understanding of published materials (2).
But this would not mean simply electronic availability of closed documents; we would also need to re-use existing materials, and the computer could help keep this re-use orderly (and do so without spying on users).
The idea was to preserve integrity, copyright and royalty for digital materials,
yet allow everyone freely to re-use these materials, which would retain their
identity at all times. By allowing everyone to republish all materials, this
would effectively define a new system of fluid, digital transmedia, with universal freedom of re-use and visualization. All different republications could in principle be viewed side-by-side by the user, thus leading to greater understanding of the mater
ial and of the points of view of the different documents, their authors and republishers.
The scheme is simple: under this arrangement, everyone is free to republish
digital materials virtually, as quotations, anthologies and collages, provided
that the republication is virtual: that is, provided that the republisher only
provides instructions for acquisiton and assembly of the parts, and each copy of previously-published bytes is separately purchased from the original
publisher(s) at the time of delivery. A republisher only distributes pointers
showing how to obtain the material, and in what new context(s) to place the material; each recipient buys these materials independently.
This method provides each receiving party with a properly-owned, independent copy of the materials, all purchased anew from the original publisher. What may be just as important, it provides incentives for participation and a method for honest re-use in
a system from which all benefit.
A PERMISSION DOCTRINE
What is proposed here turns out actually to be, at its center, a permission
doctrine. A new permission doctrine may be easily added to our culture; a
variety of permission doctrines are already popular, such as "shareware" and
"all rights reserved, except that churches may reprint freely."
In this proposed permission doctrine, the copyright holder gives permission for republication, PROVIDED THAT the material is sent to users only as an address for the material being republished, indicating what material is to be included in what new contex
t, and inviting the recipient to purchase the content bytes anew from their present publisher. When a recipient purchases material, the material is sent with identifiers as to its origin; and the user has software enabling these identifiers to be kept. T
his has a number of benefits: (1) the user knows the origin; (2) this identification can be part of a proof of purchase; (3) in principle, any recipient may republish in the same fashion, ad infinitum.
LONG FORM PERMISSION
To allow this, the copyright holder must therefore make a statement like the
following. (Note that I am still tinkering with the provisions and wording.)
"Permission is granted to all parties in the universe to re-publish the bytes of
these materials virtually in new on-line contexts, provided (1) that such
virtual republication consists of transmitting only a purchase address for bytes
to be included in a particular new context; and provided (2) that the present publisher is notified of any such virtual republication."
This may be adequate to achieve the desired result, as we will consider below.
It also leaves room for a number of possible variations.
IRONICALLY SIMPLE
This may seem over-simple, when mighty technical and legislative solutions are being sought by so many parties. But it shifts the ground of the issue.
The new ground becomes the issue of CONTEXT RELINQUISHMENT-- the publisher's willingness to allow the material to be used in unpredictable contexts, in return for royalty, credit, and the immediate availability of the original contexts for further purchas
e, inspection and comparison.
This is a tradeoff. We expect publishers-- especially small, non-traditional
publishers and self-publishing individuals-- to be invigorated by the notion of
their materials being available for universal sale and re-use, to their benefit.
More traditional publishers and authors may hesitate, not recognizing that all the traditional objectives may be satisfied by this system.
IMPLIED ASPECTS
Implied in this method are certain other aspects of implementation. For
instance, the user must be given a receipt for each portion purchased, so that
the received materials may be proved a legitimate copy. A survivable memorandum of origin (the address from which purchased) must also accompice per byte, delivering the materials with a receipt and identies not state how long materials will be offered f
or sale.
Who settles these details? This is within the scope of variation of the idea:
different forms of transcopyright may be offered by different parties--
individuals, companies, or other administrations. Any party offering
transcopyright may bundle different kinds of permission into their own systems. (For instance, the contracts of Project Xanadu will have specific clauses with respect to length of availability, paper printout and site licensing.)
ENFORCEMENT AND BENEFITS
This system is not automatically enforced, but neither is any other feasible
electronic copyright system. It is no more or less enforceable than any other.
The fact that it defines a convenient method for honest behavior, satisfying
principal objectives of both publisher and republisher-- no longer "infringer," but honest participant-- is a strong argument in its favor.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
My especial thanks to Robert W. Fiddler, Esq., of Great Neck, N.Y. for over
twenty-five years of friendship, generous legal tutoring and delightful banter
that have helped shape these ideas; but any errors, misunderstandings or
improprieties are my own.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Nelson, Theodor Holm, Literary Machines. Availabile from Mindful Press, 3020 Bridgeway #295, Sausalito CA 94965, USA.
2. Nelson, Theodor Holm, "The Art of Connection: Literature Unified by
Transclusion." Communications of the ACM, forthcoming.
