This document discusses the International Rice Research Institute's (IRRI) adoption of Creative Commons licensing to more widely disseminate its rice knowledge and technologies. It provides background on IRRI's mission and previous copyright policy of reserving all rights. IRRI now releases most information products under Creative Commons licenses, allowing copying, distribution, and derivative works with attribution. This has facilitated open access to IRRI publications, photographs, and other media online. While providing benefits, Creative Commons also presents some challenges in balancing open access with commercial interests that require contractual solutions.

1. Adopting and Utilizing Creative Commons
to Facilitate the Dissemination
of Rice Knowledge and Technology
Gene Hettel & Ildefonso Jimenez
Communication and Publications Services
& Legal Services Office
International Rice Research Institute

2. Discussion Points
• IRRI and its mission
• IRRI’s scientific publishing and types of
communication products
• Change in IRRI’s copyright policy from
“all” rights reserved to “some”
• Implementation of creative commons:
some examples at IRRI
• CC at IRRI: Impact, challenges, conflicts,
and compromise solutions

3. Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

4. IRRI in Asia
Dates indicate first interactions
1 Philippines (1960)
2 Bangladesh (1966)
3 Cambodia (1960)
4 China (1976)
5 India (1960)
6 Indonesia (1963)
7 Korea (1964)
8 Lao PDR (1968)
9 Myanmar (1965)
10 Nepal (1970)
11 Thailand (1960)
12 Vietnam (1963)

5. IRRI headquarters, Los Baños, Philippines

6. Research and support staff of ~880 (2009)

7. IRRI’s mission
To reduce poverty and hunger,
improve the health of rice farmers and
consumers, and ensure environmental
sustainability through collaborative
research and partnerships.

8. To achieve the mission
From a huge volume of research results on rice
and rice-related subject matter, IRRI generates
and disseminates knowledge and technology as
public goods to farmers via its partners in the
developing and developed world.
Research results Farmer access

9. IRRI’s network to farmers
through its partners

10. To achieve the mission
In rice research, there is a strong push to
provide free open access to vital communication
products in a variety of formats that are
convenient to researchers located in both the
developing and developed world.

11. IRRI’s Previous Copyright Policy
for 46 years
All publications, photographs, databases,
and software are protected by copyright
in accordance with normal publishing
practice, i.e., all rights reserved.
The balance of this presentation will
cover mostly IRRI’s progress with
scientific publications and photographs.

13. New policy announced by IRRI
Board of Trustees, Sept. 2006
IRRI will release its information products
(software, documents, multimedia, data), as
much as possible, under a suitable open content
license.
Such license shall allow copying, distribution,
and (usually) the creation of derivative products,
prohibit commercialization, and require attribution
as well as the release of derivative products
under the same license as the original product
was released by IRRI, hence, some rights
reserved.

14. Enter
Some rights reserved

15. Scientific Books
Since 1962, IRRI has
produced scientific books
in the form monographs,
proceedings, field guides,
and manuals.
These books are distributed
to our partners in developing
countries through their
institutional libraries.
Some are published solely
by IRRI; others are co-
published with reputable
science publishers, such as
World Scientific Press,
Elsevier, Wiley, CABI, and
others.

16. Periodicals
Rice Today
International
Rice Research
Notes (IRRN)

17. Rice Today CC Statement

18. Photographs
In its own photo bank
and on flickr, IRRI has
thousands of images
depicting landscapes,
farmers, children, events,
markets, research, and
life in general—in Asia
and elsewhere—all
available free via creative
commons license.

20. Online resources under creative commons
http://www.ricephotos.org
www.flickr.com/photos/ricephotos/collections

21. Online resources under creative commons
http://books.irri.org
http://www.yout
ube.com/profile
?user=irrivideo
&view=videos

22. Online resources under creative commons

23. Online resources under creative commons

24. Delivering rice knowledge for impact
Goal 4: Bridging the
knowledge gap in
rice research
To provide equitable access to information
and knowledge on rice and help develop the
next generation of rice scientists

25. www.training.irri.org

26. Good News!
• Copublication with like-minded institutions,
such as the International Plant Nutrition
Institute (IPNI).
• IRRI photos in Institute Photo Bank and
flickr ~ 4,500 images; downloadable and free.
• IRRI books on Google Book Search (one
of the few publishers to allow full-text
viewing and perhaps the very first to provide
download access to the entire publication).

28. More Good News!
• IRRI has agreed to support the Vibal Foundation’s online project
www.Filipiniana.net (a non-commercial online digital library and
repository dedicated to Philippines).
• The Philippine Agricultural Studies subsite located here will be a
comprehensive repository of information related to Philippine rice
production and Filipino rice farmers.
• Initial content will be provided by IRRI, which will give access to
the IRRI publication collection, a scientific resource directory,
online research materials, and other related information.
• IRRI will also assist in engaging other research agencies and
organizations to obtain information about agricultural research.

29. Impact
Anyone may now obtain, repurpose,
distribute, and even modify content
(self-service publishing) of IRRI
publications and photos with proper
attribution using Creative Commons
licenses.

30. Challenges Encountered
• CC publishers are still few and far-
between and not yet too well-known.
• Peer-reviewed and other recognized
publishers often request exclusive
publication rights and sometimes still
require assignment of copyright.

31. Apparent Conflicts over CC
vs. IRRI
Co-Publisher
• Global public goods
• Commercial interest
• Free online access
• Hard-copy sales
• Developing countries
• Worldwide target
• Perpetual need
• Perpetual license

32. Contractual Compromise Solutions
IRRI
Co-Publisher
• Retains copyright
• Exclusive right to publish
• Online access for staff & select
• Internet version, POD
national partners in developing world
edition, CD edition
• Paperback edition in the
•Hardback edition (for
Philippines and national partners
worldwide sales)
• Philippine sales & free distribution to
• Exclusive worldwide
national partners in developing world
distributor
• 36-month exclusivity after • All rights revert to IRRI (to put on
Google Book Search & elsewhere
initial publication of work

33. RIGHTS. Copyright of the Works is owned, and shall be retained, by
the Author. The Author hereby grants to the Publisher the exclusive
right to publish the Works or any abridgement or substantial part
thereof in paperback volume in the English language throughout the
world (except the Philippines) and in electronic form (“eProceedings”)
worldwide through the Internet.

34. The Author shall not, during the period up to 12 months after initial
publication of the Works by the Publisher, without the consent of the
Publisher, prepare or publish in any printed or electronic form in the
territory covered by this Agreement any work which shall be an
expansion or abridgement or part of the said Works or which shall be of
a nature likely to compete with or affect prejudicially the sales of the said
Works. After 1 year, can go on Google Books like RG I, II, III, and IV.

37. Provided, however, that during this twelve (12) month period, the
Author reserves the right to use at any time material from the
Works in articles submitted to journals or included in newsletters,
annual reports, or other in-house publications, or in presentations
at professional conferences, provided that this represents less
than twenty five (25) percent of the total of the Works. The Author
retains all translation rights, but hereby grants to the Publisher
other subsidiary rights in the Works.

38. NUMBER OF COPIES. The Author agrees to purchase one
hundred (100) paperback copies at a price of US$____
(____US Dollars) per copy, exclusive of mailing costs. These
copies shall be sold only in the Philippines and/or distributed
free to select recipients.

39. Similar contractual arrangements with WSPC
for these two titles as well

41. Regarding commercial ventures:
review on a case-by-case basis
23 January 2009
Hello Gene,
Thanks for speaking with me yesterday. Again, we'd love to use some of your photos within our instructional video
courses on quot;Ricequot;.
Here is our online cooking school: http://rouxbe.com/school and here is a sample
lesson: http://rouxbe.com/school/sections/81/objectives. We have shot two whole lessons on rice already but are
looking to show a few images of the rice harvest.
This is for commercial use but we will only use a few images in a long video course. We'd be happy to provide your
consumers with access to this video content. You could even embed some of the video on your site if you'd like. I hope
that this meets with your approval. I will let you know tomorrow if we need higher resolution for the photos along with a
list of photos we'd like to use in our lessons.
Best Regards, Joe Girard CEO

42. Internet-enabled population
in IRRI Country sites (South East Asia)

43. Because so many of our clients are
not yet wired to the Internet, hard
copy books will be in our future for
some time to come

44. Creative Commons:
the “pot of gold” for users of rice
information around the world!

45. Thank you!