Workshop | Copyrights, Intellectual Property and Information Sharing

With the aim to discuss copyrights, intellectual property, and information sharing in light of art and law in Pakistan, a three-day workshop was organized as part of Urbanities. It brought together eminent speakers Jawad Hassan (Senior Partner at Hassan, Qureshi and Mamdot), Paul Keller (Vice Chair of Kennisland and Public Project Lead for Creative Commons, Netherlands) and Rafay Alam (Environmental Lawyer and Founding Partner of Saleem, Alam and Co.).

The first session at the Nairang Art Gallery, abounded with various questions and debate around the oft-ignored, yet highly crucial matter of safeguarding one’s intellectual property. Keller’s in-depth discussion focused on the importance of copyrights, the effect of technology on methods of information storage, referencing and dissemination, and also the various challenges faced by creative individuals. Diverse examples from the fields of literature, painting and architecture served to illustrate the modern-day conundrum of protection of artistic work, both new and old. Hassan’s approach to the subject dealt with existing procedures and laws in Pakistan, along with the history of various types of intellectual property rights. Hoping to dispel any misconstrued notions of words like “copyright” and “publication”, he also chose to reiterate the meaning and identify the various types of works that merit protection. The audience was also introduced to existing Pakistani platforms and organizations like the IPO Dispute Resolution, and other processes that facilitate the protection of artistic works.

While the first day was more introductory in nature, the second day of the workshop, held at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), with Keller and Alam was an elaborate session wherein Keller introduced the audience to the workings of Creative Commons, a non-profit organization dedicated to free and fair circulation of information in the public realm. It also provides creative individuals with licenses that help safeguard their work. The aim of the conversation was to encourage deliberation over how cultural heritage institutions operate in today’s rapidly digitizing world, and the various kinds of models that are possible to adopt in order to maximize common access to works in the public domain. With reference to Creative Commons, various public domains like Europeana, YouTube, MIT Open CourseWare and Flickr were also discussed. Keller advocated for unrestricted access, improved copyright rules, and generous sharing of information in order to develop a seamless system for the dissemination of knowledge and resources.

In the latter part of the workshop, Alam expounded on the importance of sharing information, and how undue censorship and privatization is detrimental to the development of a society. Discussing the Pakistani status quo, along with certain flawed laws and policies in place today, he stressed on the importance of both the significance of knowledge circulation and the damage that a society could incur if vital information is knowingly kept from the public.

Whereas the creation of universal archives, libraries and cultural institutions with digitized resources has made works widely available, the issues of copyright have become infinitely complex. In Pakistan, the subject has not received much attention and creative individuals are not wholly aware of the intricacies of the laws and processes associated with it. An engaging question and answer session ensued at the end of the workshop, serving to both enlighten as well as encourage creative practitioners present in the audience to consider the issue with reference to their own work and experiences.

Video recordings of the workshop can be viewed on YouTube at the following links:

1.Copyright, Intellectual Property and Information Sharing | Day 2 | Part 1

2.Copyright, Intellectual Property and Information Sharing: Art & Law