BRAND AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION ON THE INTERNET

“The unidentifiable Internet is a creation of Satan,”
- Mikhail Leontiyev, Channel 1, Russia

 This session took on the matters of Internet anonymity and related potential for names and personalities to be misappropriated or stolen, along with how one protects intellectual property such as brand names and copyright.

 An added fillip was the folding into the session of a virtual world presence, said by the co-chairs of the session to be the first time any such thing had been attempted at a formal conference. This comprised participants on stage before the audience at the EAMF forum, along with more  speakers in remote locations, shown as avatars on video screens. The screen images, taken from the Internet, blended everything -- showing scenes from the actual EAMF venue in a digital world created specially for the event. Live video images were integrated with the avatars, but the digitized setting – to show how manipulation can occur – was Astana, not Almaty.

 An explanation was given of this as being representative of the “Second Life” Internet venture, which has allowed individuals and companies – and many others -- to create their own representations digitally in cyberspace. Corporations have been drawn in to promote their brands alongside entertainment personalities selling everything from DVDs and recordings to concert tickets and much more. The news organization Reuters even opened a virtual bureau in Second Life shortly after it took off.

 An audience participant immediately posited a view of the whole thing as meaningless: “A virtual world does not have real death or real pain,” he said.

 But Maxim Shevchenko, a co-chair and host of a  political talk show on Channel 1 in Russia, responded that while that may be true at the moment, there is work underway which will make connections between digital environments and the human brain and nervous system.

 Discussion turned to brand and intellectual property rights. While Saule Tlevlessova, a program officer with the World Intellectual Property Organization declared there are laws which allow brand protection, an audience member asked: “How can copyright which derives from past technologies carry on? There will be new definitions, new ways of doing things.”

 The response was that laws are continually being updated including one the EU passed in January which states that one may only depict a person with their approval, exceptions being people in the public spotlight. One detail of this was that a specific photo may be protected; not the face but the image.

 Panelist Mikhail Leontiyev, anchorman of the "Odnako" program on Channel 1 in Russia, declared: “The notion of  intellectual property (IP) is a creation – only two hundred years old. It came with the start of capitalism which, by the way, is dying in the current capital markets.”

 He went on to criticize the Internet and its anonymity in particular. “We are creating a community of phone hooligans who do not want to be responsible for their actions. Name yourself! The unidentifiable Internet is a creation of Satan,” Leontiyev said.

 Bermet Akayeva, Political analyst at “Political class” magazine in Russia pulled the discussion back to brand and IP. “Speaking as just a user, not a producer or anyone else who has an interest:

(I believe that) to continue to add to the source of power of the Internet we need to protect the interests of creators. Otherwise people will no longer create. Many people use it as a source of their living – their work has to be remunerated properly.

 “My father’s name is being used in the Internet. The Internet has become an information dumpster, (but) for many young people this is a tremendous opportunity to take their creations to a wider public.”

 Shown as an avatar on-screen, Booker Prize winning author Dmitriy Bykov spoke from his home in Russia. “Perhaps there is no censorship. Well, there should be responsibility. Protecting a family name, for instance, should be possible. But I do not see how the Internet will be regulated.”

 Panelist Vartan Toganyan, President of the Eurasian Media Group in Russia, speaking from the stage, said there are laws that protect people’s family names. This drew a response that copyright is complicated. You cannot protect “glass” because that is a generic name of a vessel, an audience member identified as a lawyer, stated. If it had a specific name, that could be protected, he added. “A hundred years ago people thought it would be really hard to protect the rights of an author from another country,” he continued. “They would ultimately come to hire lawyers to protect the author’s rights and earn themselves a commission.”

 Thierry Meyssan, President of the Voltaire Network in France as well as a political analyst and writer related a story which reflects the amplified power of the Internet to become a repository for erroneous information which, by virtue of simply being there, becomes taken as truth and repeated.

 “The quote attributed to (Iranian President) Ahmadinejad about ‘wiping Israel from the map’ was issued by Reuters and repeated by all. This quote is evident for everyone to see,” he said. However, the Iranian president’s office has issued a video showing the quote was erroneous. CNN showed the video but then, they used the Reuters quote!”

 “We have since had scholars in London verify the inaccuracy, but it is too late. This is an example of how misuse could create war and peace.”

 [There is much discussion of the quote and its meaning. That Ahmadinejad was quoting someone else is generally accepted as factual. There is dispute over translations from Persian to English which that may have caused misinterpretations and, according to published reports, various speakers have since extended the purported statement.]

 “Another example,” Meyssan continued: “There is a man making videos, texts, etc. No one knows who this is -- there is no way to verify. We have written books about this man and talk about him asking if he is living or dead. The name is Osama bin Ladin.”

 Maxim Shevchenko, the co-chair, commented “Is he myth or reality? We deal with his second self.”

 A final word on protection of intellectual property came from an author who is rejecting the idea, Alexander Arkhangelskiy of the “Culture” TV channel in Russia.

 “I will post a chapter of a new book on the net this summer and anyone can do what they like with it,” he said. “They can use it to start their own book.”