Ecuador encourages learning, research, and creativity with localized CC licenses

Patricia Escalera, April 21st, 2008

Loja, Ecuador and San Francisco, CA, USA — April 22, 2008

Ecuador, the forty-fifth jurisdiction worldwide to port the Creative Commons licensing suite, will celebrate its launch today at the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL).

The Creative Commons Ecuador team has coordinated the porting process and public discussion with local and international legal experts under the leadership of Project Leads Dr. Juan José Puertas Ortega and Carlos Correa Loyola, with team members Dra. Patricia Pacheco Montoya, Abg. Verónica Granda González, and Abg. Gabriela Armijos Maurad.

The launch event will be held at University Convention Center at 6:00pm, together with the opening ceremony of university’s open courseware initiative, “Open UTPL.” Open UTPL will offer entire courses, books, study guides, and multimedia content under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Ecuador license, as part of UPTL’s initiatives dedicated to educational resources. Creative Commons Board Member Michael Carroll will join the CC Ecuador’s launch event as a keynote speaker.

The CC Ecuador team explains, “The UTPL is interested in promoting cultural production and research, so we have taken the initiative to launch the Creative Commons licenses as an alternative to ‘all-rights-reserved’ copyright. To achieve this, we have been going through a process of adapting the international license to our legislation, in discussions both public and private, and we have worked together with our community stakeholders and notable representatives in the field of copyright to reach a public presentation of its launch.”

The localized Ecuadorian Creative Commons licenses, soon available online, will be an important part of the annual Congress for Quality Assurance and Main Challenges in Distance Learning, a 3-day conference focusing on issues in education within Latin America.

About Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja

The Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja was founded by the Ecuadorian Marist Association (AME) on May 3rd, 1971. UTPL was officially recognized by the State of Ecuador under Executive Decree 646, in which it was constituted as an autonomous legal entity on the basis of the “Modus Vivendi” Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Ecuador, following the Church’s regulations in its organization and government.

The UTPL educational model is centered on “Productive Entrepreneurship” in which the students and the professors take part in real projects in the Centers for Research, Technology Transfer, Extension and Service (CITTES). The academic life of UTPL combines all the dimensions of the university: the CITTES, the Schools, their programs in the Traditional and Distance Modalities, and service to society, with a strong humanist perspective. For more information, please visit: http://www.utpl.edu.ec/.

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001, that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works, whether owned or in the public domain. Through its free copyright licenses, Creative Commons offers authors, artists, scientists, and educators the choice of a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to enable a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. Creative Commons was built with and is sustained by the generous support of organizations including the Center for the Public Domain, the Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as members of the public. For more information about Creative Commons, visit http://creativecommons.org.

Contact

Dr. Catharina Maracke
Director
Creative Commons International, Creative Commons

Press Kit

http://creativecommons.org/presskit
http://creativecommons.org/international/ec/

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Ecuador estimula el aprendizaje, la investigación, y la creatividad con las licencias de CC

Loja, Ecuador y San Francisco, CA, USA — 22 de Abril del 2008

Ecuador, la cuadragésima quinta jurisdicción a nivel mundial en adaptar el conjunto de licencias de Creative Commons, celebrará el día de hoy el lanzamiento de dichas licencias en la Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL).

El equipo de Creative Commons Ecuador ha coordinado el proceso de adaptación y discusión pública con las entidades locales y expertos en derecho internacional, bajo la dirección de líderes del proyecto Dr. Juan José Puertas Ortega y Carlos Correa Loyola, acompañados con los miembros del equipo, Dra. Patricia Pacheco Montoya, Lic. Verónica González Granda, y Lic. Gabriela Armijos Maurad.

El evento del lanzamiento se llevará a cabo en el Centro de Convención de la UTPL a las 6:00 p.m., junto con la apertura ceremonial de los cursos “Open UTPL.” Los cursos “Open UTPL” ofrecerán clases, libros, guías de estudio, y contenido de multimedia bajo la licencia CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 de Ecuador como muestra de dedicación de la UTPL hacia la investigación educativa. Michael Carroll, miembro de la mesa directiva de Creative Commons, se unirá al evento como ponente principal.

El equipo de CC Ecuador explica, „El interés de la UTPL es difundir la producción cultural y de investigación. Por lo tanto, hemos tomado la iniciativa de poner en marcha las Licencias Creative Commons como una alternativa a ‘Todos los derechos reservados.’ Para lograrlo se ha tenido que pasar por un proceso de adaptación de la licencia internacional a nuestra legislación, con discusiones tanto públicas como privadas, en donde han colaborado para ello actores de la sociedad con notoria representación en el campo de los Derechos de Autor, dando origen a este lanzamiento público del proyecto.”

La finalización de las licencias de Creative Commons en Ecuador, disponibles virtualmente dentro de poco, será un tema muy importante durante el congreso anual Los Nuevos Retos de la Educación a Distancia en Iberoamérica y el Aseguramiento de la Calidad. Se trata de una reunión de tres días para revisar algunas cuestiones de educación en Latinoamérica.

Acerca de la Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja

La Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) fue fundada el 3 de Mayo de 1971 por la Comunidad Marista Ecuatoriana (AME). La UTPL fue reconocida oficialmente por el Estado del Ecuador bajo el Decreto Ejecutivo 646, en el que se constituyó como una entidad jurídica autónoma creada bajo el “Convenio de Modus Vivendi” firmado entre la Santa Sede y el Estado Ecuatoriano, siguiendo las regulaciones de la Iglesia en su organización y gobierno.

El modelo educativo de la UTPL se centra en el “Desarrollo Empresarial”, según el cual los estudiantes y los profesores participan en proyectos reales que se llevan a cabo en los Centros de Investigación, Transferencia de Tecnología, Extensión y Servicio (CITTES). La vida académica de la UTPL conjuga todas las dimensiones de la universidad con una filosofía humanista: los CITTES, las escuelas y sus programas en las modalidades a distancia o tradicional, y el servicio a la sociedad. Para más información, por favor visite: http://www.utpl.edu.ec/.

Sobre Creative Commons

Creative Commons es una organización sin ánimo de lucro. Fundada en 2001, promueve la reutilización creativa de obras intelectuales y artísticas, ya sean propias o de dominio público. A través de sus licencias exentas de costo, Creative Commons ofrece a autores, artistas, científicos, y educadores una flexible variedad de protecciones y libertades bajo el concepto tradicional de “Todos los derechos reservados” para permitir voluntariamente “Algunos derechos reservados”. Creative Commons nace y recibe un generoso apoyo de organizaciones, entre ellas el Centro para el Dominio Público, el Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, y The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, además del público general. Para obtener más información sobre Creative Commons, puede visitar http://creativecommons.org.

Contacto
Dr. Catharina Maracke
Director
Creative Commons International, Creative Commons
catharina [at] creativecommons [dot] org

Press Kit
http://creativecommons.org/presskit
http://creativecommons.org/international/ec/

Creative Commons Announces New Leadership, New Funding

Eric Steuer, April 1st, 2008

San Francisco, CA, USA — April 1, 2008

Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that works to expand the body of creative work available to the public for legal sharing and use, today announced both a leadership evolution and a major new grant of $4 million from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to support its activities. “Both pieces of news we are announcing today reflect Creative Commons’ maturation from a startup into crucial infrastructure for creativity, education, and research in the digital age,” said the organization’s founder, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig. Creative Commons celebrated its fifth anniversary last December.

Lessig has announced a shift of academic focus from copyright to political corruption. He recently launched Change Congress, a movement to increase transparency in the US government’s legislative branch. In order to concentrate on this effort, Lessig is stepping down as CEO of Creative Commons. He will be replaced by entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and free culture advocate Joi Ito. Lessig will remain on the Creative Commons board.

“Although I have changed my focus, I’m still very much committed to Creative Commons and the Free Culture cause,” Lessig said. “The work I intend to do with Change Congress is in many ways complementary to the work of Creative Commons. Both projects are about putting people in power and enabling them to build a better system. I could not be more pleased to hand off the leadership of Creative Commons to the extraordinarily passionate and qualified Joi Ito.”

“Under Larry’s management, Creative Commons has grown from an inspirational idea to an essential part of the technical, social, and legal landscape involving organizations and people in 80 countries,” said Ito. “With it, the organization has grown in size and complexity, and I am excited to increase the level of my participation to help manage this amazing group of people. The Hewlett Foundation has been a major supporter of ours from the beginning and we could not be more grateful for their support going forward into the future.”

Founding board member and Duke law professor James Boyle will become chair of the board, replacing Ito, who remains on the board. “Jamie has demonstrated his commitment to Creative Commons from its founding,” said Lessig. “He led the formation of Science Commons and ccLearn, our divisions focused on scientific research and education respectively. There is no person better suited to lead the Creative Commons board.”

Boyle is optimistic about Creative Commons’ future. “If one looks at all the amazing material that has been placed under our licenses – from MIT’s Open Courseware and the Public Library of Science to great music, from countless photographs and blogs to open textbooks – one realizes that, under Larry’s leadership, the organization has actually helped build a global ‘creative commons’ in which millions of people around the world participate, either as creators or users. My job will be to use the skills of the remarkable people on our board – including a guy called Larry Lessig, who has promised me he isn’t going away any time soon – to make sure that mission continues and expands.”

The Hewlett Foundation grant consists of $2.5 million to provide general support to Creative Commons over five years and $1.5 million to support ccLearn, the division of Creative Commons that is focused on open educational resources. “The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been a strong supporter of openness and open educational resources in particular,” said Catherine Casserly, the Director of the Open Educational Resources Initiative at Hewlett. “Creative Commons licenses are a critical part of the infrastructure of openness on which those efforts depend.” The Hewlett grant was a vital part of a five-year funding plan which also saw promises of support from Omidyar Network, Google, Mozilla, Red Hat, and the Creative Commons board.

Creative Commons also announces two other senior staff changes. Diane Peters joins the organization as General Counsel. Peters arrives from the Mozilla Corporation, serves on the board of the Software Freedom Law Center, and was previously General Counsel for Open Source Development Labs and the Linux Foundation. She has extensive experience collaborating with and advising nonprofit organizations, development communities, and high-tech companies on a variety of matters.

Vice President and General Counsel Virginia Rutledge, who joined Creative Commons last year from Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, will take on a new role as Vice President and Special Counsel. In her new role, Rutledge will focus on development and external relations, while continuing to lead special legal projects.

About Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001, that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works, whether owned or in the public domain. Through its free copyright licenses, Creative Commons offers authors, artists, scientists, and educators the choice of a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to enable a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. Creative Commons was built with and is sustained by the generous support of organizations including the Center for the Public Domain, Omidyar Network, the Rockefeller Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as members of the public. For more information about Creative Commons, visit http://creativecommons.org.

Contact
Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons
Email

Press Kit