The return of the Public Domain – in European politics
June 9, 2009
It is the most amazing development: the Swedish Pirate Party has obtained more than 7% of the vote, and has actually won a seat the European Parliament in last Sunday’s European Elections.
There are of course many fringe parties, but this is a really interesting development. Apparently, they are now Sweden’s third party in terms of party membership.
The Pirate Party aims at severely restricting the scope of copyright, and wishes to pretty much abolish the patent system.
With their campaign, they have succeeded in bringing the discussion on how best to promote (and protect) innovation into the political arena – and that is no small achievement.
It re-inforces the point I have made earlier: the Public Domain (or Open Space, as others call it) is important, and become more so.
Anybody involved in innovation is well advised to properly take into account the effect of the Public Domain on their business model.
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