Democratizing Copyright
The internet has changed almost everything, except copyright.
Copyright is one of the most important parts of the world economy. It protects all creative works. Art, photos, songs, videos, literature, architecture and even computer software. In the U.S. alone it is responsible for over $1.126 trillion dollars in revenue per year.
It’s one of the most protected asset classes. The Government can take your house away from you, but it can’t take your copyright. This is an intentional protection against communism and the seizure of property.
Despite being so important, copyright hasn’t notably changed since it’s creation in 1790.
- It still costs you money to register with the Government.
- It’s slow and time-consuming to register.
- It mainly benefits major corporations.
The majority of artists can’t afford to register with the U.S. Copyright Office.
The internet has changed almost everything. But it hasn’t changed copyright. In fact, it’s made it more difficult for artists to protect their work by making it free and instant to copy. The technology companies that could help artists, were built upon economic models that deter them from doing so.
It is crazy to think that with all the web has to offer, there is no simple way to identify the copyright ownership for files on the web. No way to respect the creators or determine how to pay a license or royalty. No way for you to know when your copyright was violated.
Copyright 2.0
We think it’s time for a technology company that helps protect artists. To bring copyright into the digital age.
That’s why we built Blockai, a tool for you to manage and protect your copyrights. (edit: Blockai is now known as Binded).
Our goal is to democratize copyright. That means making it available to people of all means, not just major corporations. In that vein, registering your copyrights with Blockai will remain free forever.
How it works
When you register a copyright on Blockai, we write a permanent timestamp on the bitcoin blockchain. This protects your copyright by giving you proof of publishing. Giving you better ammunition to send cease and desist letters or DMCA take-down notices.
After you register a copyright on Blockai, we search the web and identify matches for your work to help identify possible violations. Over time our system will become more robust and will support more file types. We’ll also give you actions to take against infringers.
Plus, you get a user profile that shows all your copyrights and matches. This could become your trusted professional profile as an artist. Or a way for artists to join forces and take action against offenders.
The Future
Blockai’s mission is to collect all the world’s copyright data and make it useful. To answer for every file on the web, who is the author? How can I use this file? How can I pay the author?
We imagine a future where creative work is more fulfilling. Where artists are able to earn a good living by creating and publishing to the web. Where websites profiting from creative works share their revenues with artists.
We hope you will start registering your copyrights on Blockai and help us build that future together! We think you’ll be surprised how many places your work is mis(used) without you even knowing about it.
Please recommend and share this post to help us spread the word and help artists! Follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Blockai.
Special thanks to Roberto Baldwin, Don Dodge, David Perry, Sam Lang and Jeff Nichols for reading early drafts and giving feedback.
(edit: Blockai is now known as Binded)
