Research and Development

I foresee the next stage in the development of the Distributed Intellectual Property Rights (DIPR) system would require a multidiscipline research and feasibility study to fully understand all the technicalities of the system, to try and predict its impact, and compare DIPR with current and proposed systems for regulating intellectual property. I see that this study should cover four principle disciplines - legal, technical, social, and economic. I detail some of the questions that need to be answered below. The results of this study could be then be used to provide recommendations for the full-scale development of the DIPR system.

Feasibility Study:

The scope of DIPR system involving a new way of treating intellectual property on an international scale and the requirement for an extensive Internet structure to support the system raises numerous questions? Questions of feasibility and costs head the list but there are many others including social acceptance and an analysis of the benefits compared to the current copyright regime. Some questions to be answered:

Legal framework for DIPR:

What extensions to the current international legal framework would be required to support the Collective Rights philosophy and the DIPR environment?

How could the DIPR system be integrated with existing legal framework? Would copyright law or other intellectual property laws have to be modified or could the DIPR system coexist with the current laws as they stand?

Is it feasible to enact any new laws required on an international scale? What would be the route for this? What time scale?

Technical Issues:

Define the basic Internet structure and protocols required to support the DIPR system.

What is the best infrastructure to support the large number of persistent identifiers required? Is such a structure feasible?

Is it possible to provide sufficient security?

What would be the baseline cost of issuing each identifier?

What would be the cost of operating a typical Rights Office?

Social Theory:

I believe that further research into the evolutionary principles which might be applied to units of information in a dynamic environment would be useful in predicting the operation of the DIPR environment and could provide insights into its required structure and future business models based on intellectual property.

Recommendations should also be developed for the introduction of such a system, including public awareness and education with a emphases on the consumer rights involved.

Economic Analysis:

As I state in feasible section, the DIPR system recognises intellectual products as a 'public good' and attempts to treat them as such. An analysis of the economic efficiency of the DIPR system and the costs vs. benefits to society of the DIPR system in comparison to copyright would be most helpful in evaluating the DIPR proposal.