COPYFIGHT
Barcelona Center for Comteporary Culture, July 15-17
www.elastico.net/copyfight

A complete series of talks, presentations, screenings and workshops devoted to the exploration of non-restrictive alternatives to the current intellectual property regime, new models of copyleft licenses, remix culture, and all the possibilities opened by free culture creation and distribution tools.

The effects of copyright and the reach of intellectual property laws on the development of culture have become one of the hottest isssues in the last few years. Everybody wants to protects culture, but from whom? From the artists? From the consumers? Is culture a luxury item? Can culture be owned? These contradictions are pitting goverments and public institutions against each other, companies against their own costumers, rights management societies against its own artists.

COPYFIGHT is a reflection on artistic creation and distribution models, the legitimacy of the creative process and the influence of intellectual property laws on the development of culture. This event will bring together in Barcelona world experts in free culture and intellectual property, experts such as law professor Lawrence Lessing, the leading world expert in cyberlaw and founder of Creative Commons; John Perry Barlow, author of “A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace” and founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation; and Cory Doctorow, novelist, contributing writer to Wired Magazine, and editor of Boing Boing, the most widely read blog covering digital culture. COPYFIGHT will feature as well the people responsible for Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia of human knowledge; Downhill Battle, the most active group fighting against the abuses of the entertainment industry; and Illegal Art, who will present their collection of works of art in conflict with the current intellectual propertylegislation. Participants also include important members of the Spanish cultural industry, such as Jota, frontman of the indie band Los Planetas, and José Antonio Millán, editor of the Real Academia Dictionary in CDROM.

COPYFIGHT is a project by Oscar Abril Ascaso and the Elastico Collective (Antonio Córdoba, Marta Peirano, José Luis de Vicente, Ignacio Escolar).

*TALKS. Everyday the panel will be devoted to one cultural area: literature and written culture, music and entertainment, and software and digital culture.
*Lawrence Lessig will explain the way in which the entertainment industry regulates the creativity of artists through intellectual property law, and why copyright is extended every time Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain.
*John Perry Barlow will talk about the economy of ideas and the independence of the virtual community.
* Cory Doctorow will reveal how he makes a living out of selling novels that he himself allows to be downloaded, copied and freely distributed over the Internet.

Among the national guests, the digital editor José Antonio Millán will explain why the linguistic heritage should be free. The novelist Hernan Casciari will reflect on his experience as a writer in the blogosphere. Pablo Soto, musician, producer and creator of two of the most popular p2p networks, will talk about file-sharing as a promotion tool for musical artists. Bram de Jong, a legend in the field of audio programming, will present his database of free sounds hosted by the Pompeu Fabra university in Barcelona. Amador Fernández-Savater, publisher of Acuarela libros, will explain how to sell books that can be freely photocopied. Jota, singer and guitarrist of “Los Planetas”, and Bea, guitarrist of “Nosoträxh”, will reveal where musical artists really get their money from. Jesús Barahona, member of Hispalinux and founder of Barrapunto, will talk about the importance of free software.

Each panel will include a lawyer especialized in alternative licences and distribution methods, cyber rights and digital culture. The journalists José Cervera, Ignacio Escolar and Marta Peirano will moderate the discussions.

*SPECIAL PRESENTANTIONS. An artistic presentation will close the series of talks every day. Illegal-Art will present a wide collection of works that go beyond the limits imposed by Intellectual property; Downhill Battle will go over their media campaigns against censorship, and the abuses and monopolies the entertainment industry inflicts on artists and consumers. Jimmy Wales will talk about Wikipedia, the neverending encyclopedia of universal knowledge built, edited and expanded every day by thousands of people on the Web.

*WORKSHOPS*. Each morning the public will be able to participate in a workshop introducing a free artistic creation program: Blender, an application used to generate animations and videogames in 3D, under the direction of videogames designer Julian Oliver; Processing, a programming environment that stands as an alternative to Flash and Director; and Pure Data, the favorite program of Vjs when it comes to generate and manipulate sound and images in real time.

*DOWNLOAD AREA*. There will be a space for downloading free music and texts related to free music and intellectual property, under the direction of Platoniq and Elastico, respectively. Everything can be downloaded, burnt, reused, printed, remixed and freely distributed without breaking the law.

*SCREENINGS*. The CCCB auditorium will screen a selection of movies, short films and documentaries related to artistic appropriation, derivative work and “copy&paste” culture. Among others, “F for Fake”, by Orson Wells, on art forgery; the classic “Sonic Outlaws” on “Culture Jamming;” and two works by Virgil Vildrich, winner of thirty-two international awards and nominated for best short film at the Oscars.

*LEGAL COUNSELLING*. Nine lawyers and experts on Intellectual Property will donate an hour of their time to counsel attendants and to clarify any doubt they may entertain about author rights, licenses and copyright.

COPYFIGHT is an initiative of Oscar Abril Ascaso and Elástico (Antonio Córdoba, Marta Peirano, José Luis de Vicente, Ignacio Escolar). With the collaboration of

DATES AND HOURS:
Friday, July 15 to Sunday, July 17. From 11:00am to 10:00pm.

Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona
C/ Montalegre 5, 08001 Barcelona
Tel. 93 306 41 00 Fax. 93 306 41 01
www.cccb.org

*Further information:*
www.elastico.net/copyfight