The Adelphi Charter on Creativity, Innovation and Intellectual Property is the result of a project commissioned by the
Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England, and is intended as a positive statement of what good
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
policy
Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...
is. The Charter was issued in 2004.
The Charter has subsequently influenced thinking on Intellectual Property Law, and in particular, heavily influenced a subsequent copyright manifesto
Copyright for Creativity - A Declaration for Europe.
Adelphi Charter on Creativity, Innovation and Intellectual Property
The Adelphi Charter reads:
Humanity’s capacity to generate new ideas and knowledge is its greatest asset. It is the source of art, science, innovation and economic development. Without it, individuals and societies stagnate.
This creative imagination requires access to the ideas, learning and culture of others, past and present. And, in the future, others will use what we have done.
Human rights call on us to ensure that everyone can create, access, use and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and societies to achieve their full potential.
Creativity and investment should be recognised and rewarded. The purpose of intellectual property law (such as copyright and patents) should be, now as it was in the past, to ensure both the sharing of knowledge and the rewarding of innovation.
The expansion in the law’s breadth, scope and term over the last 30 years has resulted in an intellectual property regime which is radically out of line with modern technological, economic and social trends. This disconnect threatens the chain of creativity and innovation on which we and future generations depend.
We therefore call upon governments and the international community to adopt these principles:
:1. Laws regulating intellectual property must serve as means of achieving creative, social and economic ends and must not be seen as ends in themselves.
:2. These laws and regulations must serve, and never overturn, the basic human rights to health, education, employment and cultural life.
:3. The public interest requires a balance between the public domain and private rights. It also requires a balance between the free competition which is essential for economic vitality and the monopoly rights granted by intellectual property laws.
:4. Intellectual property protection must not be extended to abstract ideas, facts or data.
:5. Patents must not be extended over mathematical models, scientific theories, computer code, methods for teaching, business processes, methods of medical diagnosis, therapy or surgery.
:6. Copyright and patents must be limited in time and their terms must not extend beyond what is proportionate and necessary.
:7. Government must facilitate a wide range of policies to stimulate access and innovation, including non-proprietary models such as open source software licensing and open access to scientific literature.
:8. Intellectual property laws must take account of developing countries’ social and economic circumstances.
:9. In making decisions about intellectual property law, governments should adhere to these rules:
::• There must be an automatic presumption against creating new areas of intellectual property protection, extending existing privileges or extending the duration of rights.
::• The burden of proof in such cases must lie on the advocates of change.
::• Change must be allowed only if a rigorous analysis clearly demonstrates that it will promote people’s basic rights and economic well-being.
::• Throughout, there should be wide public consultation and a comprehensive, objective and transparent assessment of public detriments and benefits.
[
{{Cite book
, publisher = RSA
, isbn = 978-0-901469-59-5
, editor = Royal Society of Arts (Great Britain)
, title = Promoting innovation and rewarding creativity
, year = 2006
, pages = 7–8
, url = http://www.thersa.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/54834/adephi-promoting-innovation-and-rewarding-creativity-january-2007.pdf
, access-date = 14 April 2010
, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110608154556/http://www.thersa.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/54834/adephi-promoting-innovation-and-rewarding-creativity-january-2007.pdf
, archive-date = 8 June 2011
, url-status = dead
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]
RSA, Adelphi, London, 13 October 2005
Authors of the Charter
The Charter was prepared by an International Commission of experts from the arts, creative industries, human rights, law, economics, science, R&D, technology, the public sector and education.
Commission members at the time of publishing included;
* Professor
James Boyle –
William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law, Duke Law School, and Faculty Co-Director,
Center for the Study of the Public Domain,
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
*
Lynne Brindley – Chief Executive,
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
* Professor
William Cornish – Former
Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
*
Carlos Correa – Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies on Industrial Property and Economics
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...
;and South Centre Switzerland
*
Darius Cuplinskas – Director, Information Programme
Open Society Institute
Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is an American grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with the s ...
*
Carolyn Deere – Chair, Board of Directors,
Intellectual Property Watch
''Intellectual Property Watch'' is a Geneva-based publication reporting on policy issues and influences relating to international organizations (IOs), especially those in Geneva such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade O ...
; and Research Associate,
Global Economic Governance Programme,
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and
University College, Oxford
University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...
.
*
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...
– Staff Member,
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties.
It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...
; and writer
*
Peter Drahos – Professor of Law, Director of the Centre for Competition and Regulatory Policy, and Head, RegNet, The
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
*
Bronac Ferran – Director, Interdisciplinary Arts
Arts Council England
Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...
* Dr
Michael Jubb – Director, UK Research Libraries Network
*
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...
– Minister of Culture,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
; and musician
* Professor
Lawrence Lessig
Lester Lawrence "Larry" Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American legal scholar and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvar ...
– Chair,
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
; Professor of Law and John A. Wilson Distinguished Faculty Scholar
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...
*
James Love – Executive Director,
Consumer Project on Technology
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) is a non-governmental organization. It was founded by Ralph Nader in 1995 and was then called Consumer Project on Technology. It deals with issues related to the effects of intellectual property on public heal ...
; and Co-Chair, Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) Committee on Intellectual Property
*
Hector MacQueen
Hector Lewis MacQueen (born 1956) is a Scottish academic, a senior scholar of Scots law and legal history, and a former member of the Scottish Law Commission. He is Professor of Private Law at the University of Edinburgh and a former Dean of i ...
– Professor of Private Law and Director,
AHRB Research Centre on Intellectual Property and Technology Law
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
* Professor
John Naughton – Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology,
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
; Fellow of Wolfson College,
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
; and columnist, '
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'
*
Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalization author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Ga ...
– physicist, philosopher, environmental activist and writer.
* Sir
John Sulston –
Nobel Laureate
The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
; former director,
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...
,
Sanger Institute
The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit organisation, non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust.
It is l ...
*
Louise Sylvan – Deputy Chair,
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Tra ...
The Director was
John Howkinsbr>
and the Research Coordinator Dr Jaime Stapleto
References
* Boyle, James (14 October 2005)
Protecting the public domain ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''.
* Unknown (13 October 2005)
Free Ideas ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
''.
* Thompson, Bill (17 October 2005)
Copyright for the digital age ''
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
''.
External links
''Official''
RSAThe Adelphi CharterCopyright for Creativity – A Declaration for Europe
Works about intellectual property law
Intellectual property law
Royal Society of Arts
Intellectual property law in Europe
United Kingdom intellectual property law