thinkC 's 10th Anniversary

The community thinkC, thinking about ©opyright, is throwing a 10th anniversary party.

I gave the opening remarks.

Time Magazine's 2006 person of the year cover featured a mirror which reflected the reader's own face.  It was surrounded by a drawing of a computer, with the word 'You' written within. A society in which all the individual yous, empowered by the digital, each have the power to create and transmit tyheir own information. Web 2.0, wherein everyone would take a leading role in the digital, became a buzzword.

2006 was also the year that twitter burst onto the scene. The iPhone would come out only one year later. thinkC was born on the eve of the smart and social revolutions soon to be kicked off by smartphones and socialnetworking. thinkC anticipated those developments and started working to make copyright something for everyone.

But by everyone, they meant everyone: users, creators, and industry. Everyone. Finding compromise proved difficult. However, it became an opportunity for everyone to put their heads together.

They did just that, but somewhere along the way another 'everyone' came along in the form of the TPP, leading to a tricky situation. At that point, the everyone in America elected Trump to be president,and the situation changed again. We all got back to work and put our heads together,

but at the same time another wave of change was rolling in. AI and the internet of things(IoT). How will we handle intellectual property for works created by AI? In this government committee, Japan is forging ahead of the world in this discussion. Taking that into account, perhaps they'll end up seeking thinkC's advice.

In 10 years, though the topic has changed and changed again, there's no danger of running out of material.

They'll be thinCing about copyright for a long time to come.