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GLOBAL PATRONAGE
written jointly by Francis Muguet and Richard Stallman. DECLARATION of PRINCIPLES In general terms, the plan of the global patronage system is that 1) Each internet user is free to distribute on a non-commercial basis, copies of works already published by an author or artist who belongs to a Copyright Collection Society ( CCS) or a Donation Collection Society (DCS). 2) Each internet user must pay a fixed periodic contribution to its internet service provider (ISP), to support these authors and artists. 3) Each internet user may freely assign parts of his/her fixed contribution to works that he / she chooses, within the limit of a fixed maximum percentage. 4) Contributions not explicitly apportioned in that way are allocated according to a nonlinear function, designed to reduce the differences in support for between various artists and authors, in order to promote diversity and new talents. 5) Donation Collection Societies (DCS) are created to enable the financing by Internet users, of digital works. The legal scheme of the global patronage is 6) Each ISP shall automatically compute the amounts of apportioned contributions ; transfers the amounts allocated to each work to its authors and artists according to established rules; then optionally they redistribute among themselves the respective amounts apportioned to one specific author or artist so as to maximize his or her results in the next step (see No. 7). 7) Each ISP shall automatically compute the fraction of non-apportioned contributions for each author or artist, using a nonlinear, monotonic decreasing function of the apportioned amount. 8) Each ISP publishes the amounts of contributions apportioned to each work and each author or artist, and the amount of contributions non-apportioned to each ones, and sends the amounts to CCS and DCS, which distribute them to authors and artists, deducting a management fee whose limit is set by law. The CCS and DCS shall be bound to implement the global patronage, while authors and artists who are not members of a CCS or a DCS shall not be obliged to participate to the global patronage. Notes: 1) On an ethical level, in article 1 in the scheme of principles, the freedom to distribute should extend to any published work. The global patronage system could eventually apply to all works by encouraging all authors and artists to participate. 2) When speaking about authors' rights, it is not advisable to use the term "creators" for authors and artists, since that tends to encourage granting them a privileged status by semantically suggesting that authors and artists have a divine character. 3) It is not advisable to use the term "content" for a work, because this usage depreciates the works as goods that are only meant fill a container. As well, this usage is too restrictive on one hand, because digital works may include data and software alone or in combination, and too vague on the other hand, because it might correspond to technical, scientific, accounting data, etc... 4) It is not advisable to use the word "compensation" or "payment" for authors and artists, because these words suggest that whoever appreciates a work then has a debt to the artist. We reject this assumption, and instead take the view that the goal is to provide funding for digital works. 5) Regarding the contributions not explicitly apportioned, they are distributed based on a function of each author or artist's explicit apportionment. This function is monotonic decreasing, which means it increases less than linear proportion, in order to reduce the disparity of funding between the fairly successful and the tremendously successful. We propose an experimental phase to determine the most appropriate methods and nonlinear functions. 6) This text is a statement of principles. Implementation in each country must be carefully designed, taking into account the local legal and technical context, and based on general rules to be developed by the experimental phase with the participation of the concerned parties. 7) The operating principles of DCS's, which will enable support for the authors and artists of sharably-licensed works, shall be the topic of another declaration. 8) This version of this declaration is not final, and remains to be improved by the authors. |