Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The konomark: will it sink or swim?

Discovered on Eric E Johnson's website is news of the konomark, "a new way to be friendly with your intellectual property". As Eric explains:
"The konomark is a symbol – a circle with a pineapple in it – that lets visitors to your website know that you are generally willing to share your copyrighted content, such as photos, educational materials, music, etc., with folks like yourself, for free. The konomark is an invitation to e-mail you and ask you for permission.
Let’s say I see a konomarked photo that I want to use. What should I do?
Just e-mail the photographer, explain how you want to use it, and wait for a response. You won’t be bothering anyone – the photographer has invited you to ask. It’s all good.
Who is allowed to use the konomark?
You are, as long as you comply with the following three rules:
• You use the konomark only to mark your own copyrighted works.
• By konomarking a copyrighted work, you intend to invite people to ask you for permission to use that work.
• You are generally amenable to letting people use, without compensating you, the copyrighted content you’ve konomarked – even though the konomark does not legally obligate you.
Technically, legally speaking, these three rules are the conditions upon which you are granted a revocable license to use the konomark logo and word mark. Just be aware that the rules are subject to change – after all, the konomark project is new, and still in an experimental stage ...".
I've not spotted any konomarks in general use up to now, and the relatively small number of Google 'hits' for the word (c.5,300) leads me to suspect that it's not yet about to oust the rather more complicated Creative Commons from its roost. Still, I shall be keeping my eye out (to mix my metaphors) to see whether the little black pineapples sink or swim: will they take root in the fertile soil of enthusiastic cooperation or wither on the vine of indifference?

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