Coplyleft

Copyleft is a type of license that attempts to ensure that the public retains the freedom to use, modify, extend and redistribute a creative work and all derivative works (i.e., works based on or derived from it) rather than to restrict such freedoms.

This is accomplished by the copyright holder granting irrevocable permission to the public to copy and redistribute the work in the same or modified form, but with the conditions that all such redistributions (1) make the work available in a form that facilitates further modification and (2) use the same license.

A copyright is a designation by a government that grants the author of a creative work (e.g., a musical composition, painting, poem, product design, movie or computer software) the exclusive (but transferable) right to copy or perform that work. Its original purpose was to provide a financial incentive for producing such works in order to benefit society as a whole. Copyright does not protect facts, discoveries, ideas, systems or methods of operation, although it can protect the way they are expressed.

The term copyleft is a play on the word copyright, and it may superficially appear that it is because the concept is favored by some people who consider themselves to be leftists in a political sense. However, in reality, people from throughout the political spectrum, including many who consider themselves to be true conservatives, have high regard for this concept because it is not at all about socialism or other political philosophies; rather, it is about freedom, the advance of computer technology, and benefiting the economy and society as a whole.

Non-originality

Independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has made the case that no intellectual creation is truly unique, and that everyone should purposely co-opt the preceding work of others. He has stated:

“Nothing is original. Steal from anything that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do, your work and theft will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable, originality is non existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery; celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean Luc Godard said: It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to.”

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