Public Knowledge

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Public Knowledge

Formation	2001, U.S.
Type	Non-profit organization
Purpose/focus	Communications Law & Policy, Intellectual Property, Technology Policy
Headquarters	Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.
Website	www.publicknowledge.org

Public Knowledge is a non-profit Washington, D.C.-based public interest group that is involved in intellectual property law, competition, and choice in the digital marketplace, and an open standards/end-to-end internet.

Its co-founders are David Bollier and Gigi Sohn (current president), while Peter Suber is director of its open access project, and its directors include MIT professor Hal Abelson, Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig, and former FCC chairman Reed Hundt.^[1]

Public Knowledge's work focuses on the three 'IP's of communications and copyright policy: information policy, intellectual property, and Internet Protocol.

While Public Knowledge has taken part in many information policy debates, the group is particularly well-known for its steady advocacy against the expansion of copyright and for the importance of copyright defenses and exemptions such as fair use. For instance, in response to the FCC's attempt to mandate a broadcast flag for all digital TV tuners, Public Knowledge led the successful legal campaign to have the rule overturned.^[2] ^[3] ^[4] One study of the politics of digital rights management policy concluded, "Since its 2001 founding, Public Knowledge has risen to prominence as the pre-eminent DC-based policy advocacy organization within the strong fair use coalition."^[5]

References

^ "Who we are". Public Knowledge. 2007. http://www.publicknowledge.org/about/who. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
^ Labaton, Stephen (October 27, 2003). "Rules near on TV piracy; Critics press their case". The New York Times: p. C5.
^ Zeller Jr., Tom (February 21, 2005). "Federal effort to head off TV piracy is challenged". The New York Times: pp. C5.
^ Labaton, Stephen (May 7, 2005). "Antipiracy rule for broadcasts is struck down". The New York Times: p. A2.
^ "The Battle over Digital Rights Management: A Multi-Method Study of the Politics of Copyright Management Technologies". Bill D. Herman, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. 2009. p. 87. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1357203. Retrieved 2010-02-27.

External links

Public Knowledge

v d e Intellectual property activism

Issues and debates	Copyright infringement Digital rights management Gripe site History of music piracy Intellectual property Legal aspects of file sharing Mashup videos music Patents Public domain Software patent debate

Concepts	All rights reversed Copyleft Commercial use of copyleft works Commons-based peer production Free content Free software licence Infoanarchism Libertarian positions Open content Open design Open Music Model Open patent Open source hardware Open source software Share-alike

Movements	Access to Knowledge movement Anti-copyright Cultural environmentalism Free culture movement Free software movement

Organizations	Creative Commons Electronic Frontier Foundation Free Software Foundation Open Rights Group The Pirate Bay Piratbyrån Pirate Party Students for Free Culture

Documentaries	Steal This Film (2006, 2007) Good Copy Bad Copy (2007) RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (2008)

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