Creative Barcode and Creative Commons: complementary bedfellows

Just six months after its launch, and five months after tytoc collie posted this little piece, Creative Barcode has attracted a good deal of attention, not least on account of a question which many folk have asked tytoc collie and others: “How does Creative Barcode differ from Creative Commons?” Maxine Horn, CEO of Creative Barcode, has kindly accepted the Kat's invitation to explain:

"The shortest answer is that Creative Barcode and Creative Commons they are complementary. However, they do have a few pertinent points of difference. 

Let’s start with what both organisations have in common. They are both not for profit organizations. They have both developed a technical infrastructure to support the rapidly increasing digital file sharing, on and offline and they both seek to enhance rather than restrict innovation. Both support copyright but offer alternative ways by which ideas can be shared.
Both parties seek to minimise the cost and paperwork complexities inherent in traditional IPR law, but both parties have chosen to achieve their goals in slightly different ways. 

The major point of difference between Creative Commons and Creative Barcode is one system is far more suited to works in the public domain and the other is predominantly suited to concepts not in the public domain. 

Creative Commons is best used on open source work and source credits for works in the public domain. It enables users to select their own terms of usage. It enables open-share and re-mix of creators’ works without a focus on a commercial return on investment for the creator. CCL Creative Commons offers open source use or open negotiation for use. 

Creative Barcode provides a system for permission based usage of solicited creative concepts not in the public domain (i.e. the recipient has requested the files and they do not contain open-source files or works in the public domain). Its very simple usage terms state that concept ownership is retained by the Creator until such time as works have been purchased. In short, recipients of creative barcoded files may not utilise any disclosed information contained in the files without the permission of the creator. Creative barcode offers closed source access to concepts and private negotiation of use. 

The key points of difference are: 

Creative Barcode
• Creative Barcode allows permission based usage and retained Creator ownership until some form of commercial deal has been agreed and concluded.
• Creative Barcode allows no automatic ‘open-source’ option. It has ‘one’ underpinning ‘agreement’ which is ‘no barcoded concepts or proposals shared with recipients may be utilised by the recipient without the permission of the creator’.
• The target audience is predominantly professional creative industries more akin to being paid on a fee-for-services basis who are at risk when pitching for new business, entering open innovation competitions or developing their own concepts to present to and negotiate a commercialisation license with another party; pre-contract.
• Creative Barcode serves as an IP source management tool and file tracker for creators, co-creators and brand owners. It enables proof of source to be quickly verified and avoids litigious challenges.
• Uniquely numbered Barcodes are generated using a software App and applied to written and visual files before sending direct to a’ recipient. Barcoded files enable visual demonstration of what has been disclosed.
• Creative Barcode is predominantly used to protect conceptual works ‘not’ in the public domain. 

Creative Commons
• Creative Commons majors on open-source and re-mix without needing to seek any permission from Creators who have allowed open usage.
• It relies upon source credits being applied by a party.
• CCL does not provide a file tracking service.
• Open-source is preferred by some software developers and other creators who have a commercial reason for making their work freely available, or who feel they will benefit from potential PR values, personal status enhancement or who just love the challenge and require no remuneration complications.
• Creative Commons offers a range of usage terms and licenses to suit the individual or firm. These are useful to ensure correct procedure is followed but the most common public association with Creative Commons is free to use and re-mix.
• CCL users state clear terms of usage which vary according to their specific requirements.
• CCL is predominantly supporting usage rights and file sharing for works in the public domain. 

The issue Creators currently have to contend with and rein back-in, is the unofficial stretch of the public domain. The public domain is just that – ‘public’. Traditionally it includes files uploaded on to a publicly accessible internet site; works publically exhibited or published, presented in public forums such as conferences or displayed in the media, on and offline, and in social media and business networks. 

Some have attempted to extend public domain to include one to one business meetings that as a minimum are obliged to be undertaken with a duty of confidentiality. Creative Barcode reinforces trust, establishes a means for Creators to have early, open conversations with potential industry partners and avoids the ‘true’ public domain hampering (when exclusivity and confidentiality is paramount) progress. 

Legally CCL materials are robust but it is not their business to offer legal services or advice. Tracking and monitoring usage remains the sole responsibility of the user, as is legal pursuit if their CC Licence is breached. 

Creative Barcode offers no direct legal advice but it does facilitate an intervention and mediation service provided by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). An initial intervention letter is free of charge and mediation services are provided at 50% less than normal rate card to Creative Barcode registered users. Any breach arising is one of breach of agreement. For additional security, Barcode users can send their files through the file tracking facility found in the software App. In doing so, the database records sent date and by whom, sent to and received, file downloaded confirmation. Files cannot be downloaded by the recipient without the terms of receipt being accepted. There is no room for doubt. 

Creative Barcode does provide users with free access and use of Licensing Agreements when they need them to support deals going forward. 

Creative Barcode and Creative Commons are compatible bedfellows both sharing a common goal and both addressing the key needs of parties in the design, creative industries and innovation sectors on an as-it-suits basis".

Says tytoc collie, what's so good about both Creative Commons and Creative Barcode is their ability to achieve results and generally improve the commercial environment for IP owners and users without the need to make any changes in the law. Both systems show what a little creative thinking can do.

Creative Barcode: will it do the trick?

To this Kat, the words "creative" and "barcode" do not normally share much conceptual space.  While barcodes were undeniably created, in the sense that they do not exist in nature (not even in the old joke: Q: "What's a zebra?" A: "A horse with a barcode") and have not evolved organically, they are synonymous with a means of conveying a message that more readily be appreciated by a machine than by the human eye.  That's why the Creative Barcode tag caught this Kat's imagination.

Creative Barcode is described as a digitally-encoded online IP protection system recently launched by a UK start-up company, which claims to safeguard knowledge-based creative concepts and propositions at the pre-commercialisation presentation stage by embedding application-driven digital codes into written and visual concepts, proposals and creative works in order to denote ownership and permission-based usage.  If you want to get an idea how it works, the company's website offers some Case Studies for your edification.

According to the promotional material,

"The innovative new software application can be downloaded by professional originators, creative individuals and innovative companies who wish to present their confidential new concepts, products and proposals to third parties. The device bestows ‘proof of ownership’ protection at the pre-commercialisation stage when making pitches, sharing ideas and know-how, entering into creative partnerships or submitting proposals and tenders ['Proof of ownership' looks a big claim and may be an overstatement where the software user is not actually the original owner of the barcoded concept.  'Evidence of ownership' might be better, and even that is a matter for the courts to determine].

Each barcode embeds a unique number to each new project, enabling originators to digitally tag, encode and date their work, denote its origins and ownership, and record and track its use by visiting http://www.creativebarcode.com/, registering online and downloading the software application. It also offers prospective buyers the route to collaboration, purchase or licensing of concepts".

There's more that attracts the lawyer's eye:

"A Creative Barcode™ forms an agreement between all parties that the tagged propositions, proposals and creative works may not be commercialised by those commissioning, soliciting, viewing or negotiating the use of them without the originator’s permission [Again, what constitutes a binding agreement, upon whom it is binding and with what consequences will ultimately be for the court to decide]. In this way, Creative Barcode™ benefits both originators and procurers by encouraging trust-based opportunities for collaboration, open innovation and the trading of concepts between originators and route-to-market partners".

While welcoming this initiative and wishing it every success, tytoc collie awaits reassurance that, when tested in court, it does indeed deliver on its promises in a manner which the courts accept to be binding.  He also foresees problems where pre-existing relationships between the parties as well as subsequent dealings operate so as to vary or negate the operation of this package.  Merpel wonders whether it will have any impact on current practices involving non-disclosure agreements and the general reluctance of prospective licensees/developers to receive unsolicited innovations.

How barcodes work here