Page:The digital public domain.pdf/217

190 Users in the digital media value-chain frequently have to accept licensing conditions before they can access and use copyrighted content. A certificate that a given piece of content is really the content that has been registered with a trusted agency can improve a user’s confidence that he or she may use this content according to the license terms.

Even where license information is available, for example through a web link to a Creative Commons (CC) license, the relation to a given work is not guarded. Companies who may be interested in the commercial distribution and other uses of the material require legal security for their business, notably in the form of reliable authorship information. This reliable link to the author is missing from many websites that offer content for re-use. Even if the work has assigned a license with a weblink, or the work is said to be in the public domain, how can one know that the relation is correct and authorship or the freedom granted is as claimed?


 * 2. Emerging content registries

Registering creative works implies that content must be reliably and unambiguously identified. This task requires specific capabilities, as identification constitutes a key element of trust establishment. The task of content identification needs to be carried out by organisations that are properly accredited with a trusted authority.

Registries are following various goals. First, they provide trust among parties who would like to use or share published works. Secondly, registries are being used to furnish evidence of a work’s authorship. A typical use case is to prevent stealing ideas or concepts in the creative sector. People tend to lock their own work in a registry under full copyright and do not necessarily have the intention of publishing it. They register the work in case a similar idea is evolving, for example, after they showed the artwork at a design pitch.

Additionally, many registries offer value added services, such as paper certificates, storage of the work or offering a point of sales for usages beyond a sharing license. CC+ allows people to provide a link, where conditions for commercial use are described.