HISTOR¥

The Creative Commons-weblog let know that Open Acces Now features an interview with John Wilbanks, executive director of Science Commons, a project to be officially launched in 2005.

Interestingly, John Wilbanks shows himself very sensitive to the frictions between the legal and purely scientific aspects of publishing and copyright. He does, for instance, not reject the validity of all barriers to the flow of scientific data or scientific discoveries. In his view 'patents can be used to provide the incentives necessary to fund future research'. Yet, there are several areas 'in which Science Commons can help to create mechanisms (licenses, contracts and technology) that promote the free flow of scientific knowledge and discovery'. Fortunately, he remains committed to a scientific goal: 'In fact, any place where you have scientific data and peer-review and you have the potential for unintentional intellectual property conflict we believe that there might be a role for Science Commons," notes Wilbanks. "What we are trying to do is to create opportunities for innovation. One of the key elements of science is putting things together in a unique way to create a new perspective. I think we can just make that easier by simply taking away unnecessary barriers to sharing knowledge."'

For more information on what is coming up, see the Science Commons-webpages.