Press Releases
Creative Commons Launches Legal Music Sharing and Search
Matt Haughey, March 31st, 2004
The Silicon Valley nonprofit announces new file-sharing-friendly music
license alongside its new Get Content search engine.
Austin, Texas, USA – March 18, 2004 – Creative Commons, a nonprofit
dedicated to expanding the range of creative works free to share and
build upon, announced its new Music Sharing License and Get Content
search engine at the South by Southwest Music Festival here today.
The license, which is available free of charge from the Creative Commons
website, allows musicians to clearly mark their songs as free to download
and share while protecting their commercial and other rights. The license
also helps musicians tag their works digitally, which allows Creative
Commons’ Get Content search engine to index them from the web site.
This is the music-sharing notice bands can use to invite their fans to
download and share their music noncommercially.
“Finally, musicians who want to share and fans who want legal downloads
can find each other easily and quickly,” said Neeru Paharia, Assistant
Director of Creative Commons. “The Net already makes widespread
distribution very easy – technically. The Music Sharing license, in
combination with the new Get Content search engine, lets musicians
harness the Net’s distributive power while protecting themselves -
legally.”
Matthew King Kaufman, founder of Beserkley Records and MP34U.com, said:
“If there’s going to be legal p2p, then a Creative Commons Music Sharing
license is a mandatory prerequisite.”
Like all Creative Commons tools, the Music-Sharing License uses a
three-layer interface to put fans on notice of the music’s legal status.
First is the Commons Deed, a plain-language summary of the legal
language’s key terms. Next is the Legal Code, the full copyright license
in all its nitty-gritty detail (identical to the legal code for the
Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivativeWorks license). Third is Creative
Commons’ metadata, a machine-readable expression of the license, so that
users can search for and sort sharing-friendly music with the Get Content
search engine, which indexes web pages carrying Creative Commons’ license
tags and metadata. The search engine is the first that allows users to
find content based on the permissions and restrictions associated with
it.
Links:
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org
Music-Sharing License: http://creativecommons.org/license/music
GET CONTENT! Search Engine: http://creativecommons.org/getcontent/
About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of
intellectual works – whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by
the
generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative
Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space,
and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/.
Contact
Neeru Paharia
Assistant Director, Creative Commons
1.650.724.3717 (tel)
neeru@creativecommons.org
Glenn Otis Brown
Executive Director, Creative Commons
1.650.723.7572 (tel)
Creative Commons Expands To The Middle East With AGIP
Matt Haughey, March 26th, 2004
Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) is the first to bring the International Commons (iCommons) project to the Middle East.
Palo Alto, USA, and Amman, JORDAN – March 25, 2004 – Creative Commons, a non-profit corporation dedicated to building a body of creative works free for copying and re-use, announced today that it would expand its International Commons (iCommons) project in Jordan and the Middle East. AGIP, the leading provider of intellectual property services in the Arab region, will lead this effort.
Professor Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of Creative Commons and professor of law at Stanford University, in the U.S., said: “We’re very excited to have AGIP lead iCommons project in Jordan. AGIP’s participation is crucial to our growing effort in promoting the international cultural commons.”
Mr. Charles Shaban, executive director of AGIP’s Regional Office said, “We are very pleased to be the first Arab country to bring the International Commons to this region and we hope that this project will be a step forward towards building the digital commons in cyberspace.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Rami Olwan, an e-commerce legal consultant and project lead for iCommons in Jordan stated, “The international Creative Commons project is unique in the sense that it offers new concepts to the current copyright legal system.”
Announced in March 2003, iCommons is Creative Commons’ project to make its machine-readable copyright licenses useful worldwide. As the lead institution for Jordan, AGIP will coordinate a public effort to translate the Creative Commons licenses literally and legally for use there. Jordan joins Australia, Brazil, Catalonia, China, Croatia, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom in this effort.
AGIP will field comments relating to their specific initiatives in archived email discussions on the Creative Commons website at:
http://creativecommons.org/discuss#/jordan
More about Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or in the public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School (U.S.), where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org.
For more information about iCommons, see http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/.
More about AGIP
Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) is a pioneering firm in intellectual property protection in the Arab world and today remains the region’s leader in this field. When AGIP was established in 1972 under the name TMP Agents, intellectual property protection was in its infancy in the Arab region. Legislation was weak and few foreign companies attempted to protect their intellectual property in the region.
The situation has changed dramatically over the last 3 decades and AGIP today is the largest IP firm in the Arab world, managing the protection of nearly half of the global Fortune 500 firms among many others. As Arab nations have developed, they have rapidly increased the legal protections applicable to intellectual property and have continued to work on increasing the effectiveness of enforcement of IP laws. AGIP has consistently been at the forefront of efforts to improve the infrastructure of Arab intellectual property protection.
It has always been the most generous Arab contributor to regional and global intellectual property associations and has worked in close coordination with Arab governments and multilateral governmental organizations such as WIPO to improve the climate for intellectual property protection.
Operating from its headquarters in Amman, Jordan, AGIP has offices in every major Arab city with liaison offices in Europe, UK, Canada and the USA.
For more information about AGIP, please visit:
Contact
Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin, Germany)
iCommons Coordinator, Creative Commons
christiane@creativecommons.org
Rami Olwan (Ammam, Jordan)
Project Lead, iCommons Jordan
rolwan@tagi.com
Glenn Otis Brown (Palo Alto, USA)
Executive Director, Creative Commons
glenn@creativecommons.org
Creative Commons expands to Australia with Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Matt Haughey, March 25th, 2004
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will lead the license translation and work to expand global access to Australia’s culture
Palo Alto, USA, and Brisbane, AUSTRALIA – March 25, 2004 – Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative works free for copying and re-use, announced today that it would expand its International Commons (iCommons) project to Australia.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT), in Brisbane, will lead the effort.
First announced in March 2003, iCommons is Creative Commons’ project to make its machine-readable copyright licenses useful worldwide.
As the lead institution, QUT will coordinate a public effort to translate the Creative Commons licenses literally and legally for use in Australia.
“We are thrilled to be working with Queensland University of Technology,” said Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of Creative Commons and professor of law at Stanford University, in the U.S. “Australia will be a vital participant in bringing the international cultural Commons to fruition.”
“We are also excited to be involved in developing Creative Commons in Australia,” explained Project Co-Leader Brian Fitzgerald, Professor and Head of the School of Law at QUT. “There is already strong demand within the Australian community for a legal means of facilitating the distribution of Open Content, and Creative Commons will be a tremendous platform on which to build these protocols and agreements.”
Tom Cochrane, Project Co-Leader and Deputy Vice Chancellor at QUT, said that with copyright law and regulation getting more attention by the day, QUT was pleased to be associated with this international effort to find collaborative solutions more appropriate to rapidly changing digital environments.
“Even within the University, there are already numerous direct applications of the model in our day to day academic work,” Mr Cochrane said.
QUT will field comments on an archived email discussion at the Creative Commons website, http://www.creativecommons.org/discuss#australia.
Australia joins Brazil, China, Croatia, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and Jordan in the iCommons effort.
More about Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or in the public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org.
For more information about iCommons, see http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/.
More about Queensland University of Technology
QUT is a major Australian university with a strong interest in and commitment to information law and policy. As well as its large Law Faculty, QUT is also home to the Faculty of Creative Industries, which is keen to utilize the Creative Commons model to further develop innovation in the creative industries; the Faculty of Information Technology, which is a leader in information security; and the Faculty of Business, which has recognized expertise in technology policy and innovation.
QUT’s partner in this exercise has been Ian Oi and his team at Blake Dawson Waldron Lawyers. Ian Oi is a recognized expert in Technology and Intellectual Property Issues and plays an active role in the development of law and policy in this area.
For more information about QUT, visit http://www.qut.edu.au.
For more information about Blake Dawson Waldron Lawyers, visit http://www.bdw.com.au.
Contact
Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
iCommons Coordinator, Creative Commons
christiane@creativecommons.org
Professor Brian Fitzgerald (Brisbane)
Project Lead, iCommons Australia
Head of School of Law, Queensland University of Technology
email: bf.fitzgerald@qut.edu.au
Glenn Otis Brown
Executive Director (Palo Alto)
glenn@creativecommons.org
Japanese Creative Commons Licenses Available Now
Matt Haughey, March 3rd, 2004
Creative Commons and GLOCOM release official Japanese copyright licenses for iCommons Japan, the first country-specific adaptation of the open content system.
Palo Alto, USA, and Tokyo, Japan – Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative works free for copying and re-use, and GLOCOM, its Japanese affiliate, today announced the official roll out of their iCommons Japan licenses.
“The launch of the Japanese iCommons licenses is a major milestone for both Creative Commons and the global free culture movement, generally,” said Lawrence Lessig, Creative Commons’ chairman and professor of law at Stanford University. “We would like to give special recognition to GLOCOM, and to Yuko Noguchi and Emi Wakatsuki, the lawyers whose dedication helped make this possible.” Lessig also acknowledged the contributions and comments of Machina, http://homepage3.nifty.com/machina/, a technology commentator and Japan-based blogger.
“We are pleased to be among the first international Commons (iCommons) participants,” said Motohiro Tsuchiya, project lead iCommons Japan and assistant professor and senior research fellow at GLOCOM, International University of Japan. “This launch is a joint effort of many ‘commoners’ here in Japan. It has always been part of our age-old culture to share creative works such as drawings, poetry, music and more. iCommons Japan is a natural extension of this practice.”
The licenses, translated into the Japanese language and adapted to Japanese law, allow copyright holders easily to inform others that their works are free for copying and other uses, under specific conditions – to declare “some rights reserved.” These self-help tools, which are free of charge, offer new ways to distribute creative works on generous terms along the rich spectrum between full copyright and public domain. Authors and artists in Japan can now express a preference for sharing their work on their own terms.
Japanese-speaking visitors to the Creative Commons Web site now automatically view a full Japanese translation of the license choice process as the site detects the users’ web browser settings.
See http://creativecommons.org/license/?lang=ja for the license selection page in Japanese, and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/jp/ for an example of a Japan-specific license.
Japan is the first country to launch iCommons licenses.
More about Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or in the public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org.
For more information about iCommons, see http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/.
More about Glocom
GLOCOM was established in 1991 as a social science research institute specializing in the study of information society as well as Japanese society. From the outset it was thought that the collection and dissemination of information through the utilization of computer networks was important, and this goal was realized in 1993 when the center established an Internet connection. Ever since, by utilizing the most up-to-date information and communication technologies, GLOCOM has been able to engage in various research activities, including generation of policy proposals and involvement in education-related projects. GLOCOM has set out to be a modern information “intelprise,” an institution promoting the distribution and sharing of “wisdom.”
For more information about GLOCOM, visit http://www.glocom.ac.jp/.
Contact
Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
International Commons Coordinator, Creative Commons
christiane@creativecommons.org
Motohiro Tsuchiya, (Tokyo)
Project Lead, iCommons Japan
Assistant Professor, Senior Research Fellow, GLOCOM
taiyo@glocom.ac.jp
Glenn Otis Brown (Palo Alto)
Executive Director, Creative Commons
glenn@creativecommons.org
Creative Commons to Offer Spanish and Catalan Copyright Licenses with University of Barcelona
Matt Haughey, February 26th, 2004
University of Barcelona is spearheading the effort to translate Creative Commons licenses into Spanish and Catalan.
Palo Alto, USA and Barcelona, Spain – Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative works free for copying and re-use, announced today that formal work has begun for expanding its International Commons (iCommons) project to the Iberian peninsula, with both Spanish and Catalan translations in the works.
The University of Barcelona will lead the effort.
“We are thrilled to be working with the University of Barcelona,” said Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of Creative Commons and professor of law at Stanford. “With its rich heritage and linguistic reach, Spain can serve as a model for many countries in expanding the global cultural commons. And we’re excited to begin work on Catalan versions of the licenses in parallel.”
“We think that Creative Commons’ project is very interesting and therefore we have decided to promote it from a public institution as the University of Barcelona,” said Ignasi Labastida i Juan, project lead of the iCommons efforts in Spain and Catalonia. Ignasi Labastida i Juan added, “Since the project of the licenses appeared, we thought that we needed adaptations for our own laws and in our languages. The idea to create iCommons Catalonia was very important to us since we are not well known but we speak the seventh language in the EU in terms of number of speakers – more than ten million.”
First announced in March 2003, iCommons is Creative Commons’ project to make its machine-readable copyright licenses useful worldwide. As the lead institution, University of Barcelona will coordinate a public effort literally and legally to translate the Creative Commons licenses. University of Barcelona will field comments on an archived email discussion at the Creative Commons website:
http://www.creativecommons.org/discuss#spain
http://www.creativecommons.org/discuss#catalonia.
Spain and Catalonia join Brazil, Croatia, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Japan, China, Taiwan, France, and the UK in the iCommons effort. Several other iCommons jurisdictions and languages will soon follow.
More about Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or in the public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/.
For more information about iCommons, see http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/.
More about University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona, founded in 1450, is the oldest and largest of the six universities in Barcelona, and of the ten in Catalonia. It has 76,000 students – more than half of the total student population of Catalonia – and is the second largest in terms of students number in Spain. The University of Barcelona has four campuses, in different parts of the city. The University is the main Spanish university research centre, and one of the leaders in Europe, in terms of projects and the quality achieved in this field. One of the aims of the University is to create, transmit and expand the cultural, scientific, and technical knowledge and to contribute to society’s development.
The university is particularly interested in fostering international relations, and for many years has been the leader among European universities in numbers of student exchanges organized as part of the Erasmus program. Since 1995, the UB has implemented a quality program aiming fundamentally to design mid and long term strategies in order to evaluate and improve teaching and research in public higher education.
For more information about University of Barcelona, visit http://www.ub.edu/.
Contact
Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
iCommons Coordinator, Creative Commons
christiane@creativecommons.org
Ignasi Labastida i Juan (Barcelona)
Project Lead, iCommons Spain
University of Barcelona
ilabastida@ub.edu
Glenn Otis Brown
Executive Director (Palo Alto)
1.650.723.7572 (tel)
1.415.336.1433 (cell)
glenn@creativecommons.org
Creative Commons expands to Croatia with Multimedia Institute (mi2)
Matt Haughey, February 26th, 2004
Multimedia Institute (mi2) will lead the license translation and work to expand global access to Croatia’s culture
Palo Alto, USA, and Zagreb, CROATIA – Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative works free for copying and re-use, announced today that it would expand its International Commons (iCommons) project to Croatia. Multimedia Institute (mi2), in Zagreb, will lead the effort.
“Croatia has already demonstrated an extraordinary range of creative
use of new technology,” said Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of Creative Commons and professor of law at Stanford. “We’re eager to work with iCommons
Croatia to support that work.”
“It’s liberating for Croatia to participate in this global effort to create a common space for creativity, especially at a time when legislative regimes often overlook this public good,” said Diana Kovacevic, project lead.
First announced in March 2003, iCommons is Creative Commons’ project to make its machine-readable copyright licenses useful worldwide. As the lead institution, (mi2) will coordinate a public effort literally and legally to translate the Creative Commons licenses for use in Croatia. (mi2) will field comments on an archived email discussion at the Creative Commons website, http://www.creativecommons.org/discuss#croatia.
Croatia joins Brazil, China, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Taiwan and the United Kingdom in the iCommons effort.
More About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or in the public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/.
For more information about iCommons, see http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/.
More About Multimedia Institute (mi2)
(mi2) sprang up in 1999 as a spin-off of the Internet program of Open Society Institute Croatia. Entering locally uncharted territory between social and cultural action and new technological developments, (mi2) brought together an emerging generation of civil activists, media practitioners, urban culture actors and social and media theorists who set out to pursue two principle tasks:
1) To promote and educate in media and technological practices relevant for the functioning and development of a social and cultural sector, and
2) To promote and develop socially inflected approaches to new technologies, especially as investments in the local emerging market gradually increased the penetration of new media and introduced the domination of commercial standards.
Over the past two years, (mi2) has become increasingly involved in cooperative activities at the local, regional and international levels to strengthen the cultural scene and advocate on behalf of the public domain. It is working towards initiating structural changes in a wide range of areas, including: non-institutional culture, informal education, technology, intellectual property rights, and access to public resources.
For more information about (mi2), visit http://www.mi2.hr/.
Contact
Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
iCommons Coordinator, Creative Commons
christiane@creativecommons.org
Diana Kovacevic, (Zagreb)
Co-Project Lead, iCommons Croatia
diana@mi2.hr
Tomislav Medak, (Zagreb)
Co-Project Lead iCommons Croatia
to-me@mi2.hr
Glenn Otis Brown
Executive Director (Palo Alto)
glenn@creativecommons.org
Creative Commons Expands to France with CERSA
Matt Haughey, December 5th, 2003
CERSA (Research Center in Administrative Science) will lead the license translation and work to expand global access to French culture.
Palo Alto, USA; Paris, FRANCE; Tokyo, JAPAN — Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative works free for copying and re-use, announced today the expansion of its International Commons (iCommons) project to France. CERSA, a French research center dedicated to administrative sciences, will lead the effort.
“We’re very excited to have CERSA lead iCommons in France,” said Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of Creative Commons and professor of law at Stanford, from Tokyo, where he is promoting Creative Commons’ international projects this week. “France is the latest country to join our most exciting project — to build an international cultural commons.”
“We are glad to host iCommons and to propose user-friendly, alternative licensing terms to authors. Our research group shares Creative Commons’ vision to associate digital code and legal code,” said Melanie Dulong de Rosnay, project lead of iCommons in France. Jean-Baptiste Soufron, co-project lead of iCommons in France, added: “We are very pleased to introduce the French version of the Creative Commons licenses. It was interesting not only to translate them, but also to adapt the licenses for full compatibility with our legal system.”
Announced in March 2003, iCommons is Creative Commons’ project to make its machine-readable copyright licenses useful worldwide. As the lead institution, CERSA will co-ordinate a public effort to adapt the Creative Commons licenses for use in France. CERSA will field comments on an archived email discussion at the Creative Commons website. See http://www.creativecommons.org/discuss#france.
France joins Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Japan, China, and Taiwan in the iCommons effort.
More about Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/.
For more information about iCommons, see
http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/.
More about CERSA
Founded in 1967, the Research Center in Administrative Science (CERSA) is a joint research institute of the University of Paris 2 and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Dedicated to the study of administrative phenomena at all levels, CERSA is host to researchers in public law, political science, and sociology. The research group in Information Technologies, Law and Linguistics (IDL) works on Information Technologies regulation, governance, normative process and legal modelling. It also develops cognitive interfaces and applications within local and European projects and networks.
For more information about CERSA, please visit http://www.cersa.org/.
Contact
Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
iCommons Coordinator, Creative Commons
christiane@creativecommons.org
Melanie Dulong de Rosnay (Paris)
Project Lead iCommons, CERSA
melanie.ddr@wanadoo.fr
Jean-Baptiste Soufron, (Paris)
Co-Project Lead iCommons, CERSA
soufron@free.fr
Glenn Otis Brown (Palo Alto)
Executive Director, Creative Commons
glenn@creativecommons.org
New Strides for iCommons Japan
Matt Haughey, December 2nd, 2003
Date is set for release of official Japanese licenses; Creative Commons’ website now offers Japanese translation of license selection process
Tokyo, JAPAN — The Creative Commons Japan licenses will roll out on January 15, 2004, announced GLOCOM, the Japanese research institute leading the Silicon Valley nonprofit’s efforts here. Creative Commons also unveiled a Japanese translation of its licensing process, available now on its website for use with the general Creative Commons licenses.
“Building an international commons is our most important mission,” said Lawrence Lessig, Creative Commons’ chairman and professor of law at Stanford University, in Tokyo this week to promote Creative Commons’ various international projects. “GLOCOM has been the key to our launching the iCommons in Japan, and Japan is critical to our strategy internationally.”
“We are very happy to be among the first iCommons participants,” said Motohiro Tsuchiya, member of Creative Commons Japan and associate professor at GLOCOM, International University of Japan. “This is a collective work of many ‘commoners’ here in Japan, who have a unique culture of sharing creative works such as comics, animations, haikus, and more. It makes it easier for us to understand the spirit of Creative Commons.”
The Creative Commons Japan team today made its latest drafts of the Japanese licenses available for public review from the Creative Commons website, (see http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/jp/), and Creative Commons released its first content-negotiated translation of its licensing process.
Japanese-speaking visitors to the Creative Commons site now automatically view a full translation of the license choice process as the site detects the users’ web browser settings. More translations will follow shortly, said Creative Commons. (For the translated text, see: http://creativecommons.org/license/?lang=ja.)
About GLOCOM
GLOCOM was established in 1991 as a social science research institute specializing in the study of information society as well as Japanese society. From the outset it was thought that the collection and dissemination of information through the utilization of computer networks was important, and this goal was realized in 1993 when the center established an Internet connection. Ever since, by utilizing the most up-to-date information and communication technologies, GLOCOM has been able to engage in various research activities, including generation of policy proposals and involvement in education-related projects. GLOCOM has set out to be a modern information “intelprise,” an institution promoting the distribution and sharing of “wisdom.”
More at http://www.glocom.ac.jp/.
About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of
intellectual works — whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the
generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/.
Contact
Motohiro Tsuchiya
iCommons Japan Project Lead, GLOCOM
taiyo@glocom.ac.jp
Christiane Asschenfeldt
iCommons Coordinator, Creative Commons
christiane@creativecommons.org
Glenn Otis Brown
Executive Director, Creative Commons
1.650.725.2565 (tel)
glenn@creativecommons.org
Brazilian Government First to Adopt New “CC-GPL”
Matt Haughey, December 2nd, 2003
The Brazilian Committee for the Implementation of Free Software will release code under the Free Software Foundation’s General Public License, with Creative Commons providing new human- and machine-readable packaging
Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL, and Tokyo, JAPAN — The government of Brazil today announced its adoption of the CC-GPL, an innovation on the Free Software Foundation’s (FSF) General Public License, for the release of publicly funded software. Brazil is the first adopter of the new CC-GPL, which combines the proven utility and popularity of the GPL with Creative Commons’ innovative user interface.
“Brazil’s adoption of the CC-GPL is extremely significant,” said Lawrence Lessig, Creative Commons’ chairman and professor of law at Stanford University, from Tokyo, where Creative Commons is presenting its projects in Japan this week. “Brazil has recognized that code produced and funded by the people should be made available to the people, and it has pioneered a tool that provides the best of both the Free Software Foundation and Creative Commons.”
“Brazilian government adoption of the GPL is an enormous step forward in the cause of software freedom,” said Professor Eben Moglen of Columbia Law School and General Counsel of the Free Software Foundation. “We welcome the chance to work together with Creative Commons to make the GNU GPL even more attractive to governments, which are recognizing that the principle of ’share and share alike’ is the most efficient, most equitable, and most pro-development licensing strategy for software the public pays to create or to acquire.”
The first piece of software Brazil will release under the CC-GPL is TerraCrime 1.0, which analyzes and creates statistical reports on criminal activity in a particular geographic area, cross-referencing the data with other variables such as population, time of the incident, etc. The software was developed by the Laboratorio de Estatistica Espacial (LESTE — Spacial Statistics Laboratory) of the the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and by the Divisao de Processamento de Imagens (DPI — Image Processing Division) of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE — National Institute of Space Research).
With the CC-GPL, Creative Commons has applied its three-layer user interface to the FSF’s classic software license. First is the Commons Deed, a plain-language summary of the GPL’s key terms. Next is the Legal Code, the full license in all its detail — in this case, the General Public License, provided in both English and a Portuguese translation by the Brazilian government. Third is Creative Commons’ metadata, a machine-readable expression of the license, so that users can search for and sort CC-GPL-licensed code by terms of use.
Lessig said Creative Commons and the FSF will begin offering the CC-GPL to the general public shortly.
About the Brazilian Committee for the Implementation of Free Source Software
The Information Technology Institute (ITI – Instituto de Tecnologia da Informacao) is an administrative entity connected directly with the Presidency of the Republic in Brazil. It has appointed a Committee for the Implementation of Free Software, and it is responsible for steering the free software policy in Brazil.
About the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
FSF is the principal organizational sponsor of the GNU Project, an effort launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system. (GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU’s Not Unix”; it is pronounced “guh-noo.”) Variants of the GNU operating system which use the kernel Linux are now widely deployed; though these systems are often referred to as “Linux,” they are more accurately called GNU/Linux systems. The Foundation also develops, publishes, and secures compliance with the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) and GNU Lesser General Public License (GNU LGPL), which are the world’s most widely used free software licenses.
For more, see http://gnu.org/.
About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of
intellectual works — whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/.
No Comments »Italy Builds Out the Creative Commons
Matt Haughey, November 18th, 2003
The Department of Law at the University of Turin will lead the license translation, while the CNR Institute of Electronics and Information and Telecommunications Engineering (IEIIT-CNR) will take the tech lead.
Palo Alto, USA and Turin, Italy — Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative works free for copying and re-use, announced today that it would expand its International Commons (iCommons) project to Italy.
“We’re very excited to have Turin’s Department of Law working with us to bring iCommons to Italy,” said Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of Creative Commons and professor of law at Stanford, at the CSI-Piemonte convention on ‘Knowledge as Public Common Property.’ “Our cultural commons, needless to say, would not be complete without their participation.”
“In a world where the space for creativity is shrinking dangerously, Creative Commons is acting to keep this area open. There was a dire need for this initiative, and we are proud to participate in the project,” explained Professor Marco Ricolfi, project lead and professor of intellectual property law at the University of Turin.
Professor Marco Ajmone Marsan, Director of IEIIT-CNR said: “We are glad to offer the technical skills of our Institute in the field of Information and Communication Technologies to support the activities of Creative Commons in Italy.”
First announced in March this year, iCommons is Creative Commons’ project to make its machine-readable copyright licenses useful worldwide. As the affiliate institution for iCommons in Italy, Turin’s Department of Law will coordinate public efforts to translate the Creative Commons licenses literally and legally — so that they are accessible in the Italian language and suit the Italian legal system.
In taking up iCommons, Italy joins Brazil, Japan, Finland, Ireland, China, and Taiwan in the international effort.
The Department of Law at the University of Turin will field comments in archived email discussions on the Creative Commons website:
http://www.creativecommons.org/discuss#italy
More about Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/.
For more information about iCommons, see http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/.
More About the Department of Law at the University of Turin
The Department of Law at the University of Turin, headed by Professor Gianmaria Ajani, coordinates legal research activity at the University of Turin. The Department also deals with fundraising for research purposes, the management of all PhD programs and continuing education in the area of law. It is part of the University of Turin, which, founded in 1404, is one of the oldest universities in the world. Today the University boasts 65,000 students, 1,300 professors, and nearly 800 researchers and assistants.
The Department of Law coordinates the research work of more than 130 law professors in different areas of law.
At present, the main research programs are in the fields of:
- EC Private Law and Harmonization of Contract Law;
- International Human Rights;
- Criminal Jurisdiction;
- Harmonization of Civil Procedure; and
- Intellectual Property Law.
For more information about the Department of Law at the University of Turin, please visit:
More about IEIIT-CNR
The Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Research Council of Italy), founded in 1923, is a multidisciplinary public research institution. The IEIIT is a CNR institute founded in 2002 by merging the forces of several preexisting CNR institutes and centers.
The IEIIT-CNR headquarters are located in Torino, with territorial sections in Genoa, Milan, Bologna and Pisa; the Institute is directed by professor Marco Ajmone Marsan. The IEIIT-CNR pursues advanced, multidisciplinary research in the field of information and communications technology (ICT).
For more information about IEIIT-CNR, please visit:
Contacts
Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
Creative Commons, iCommons Coordinator
christiane@creativecommons.org
Prof. Marco Ricolfi (Torino)
iCommons Italy Project Lead, Legal aspects
Department of Law, University of Turin
info@creativecommons.it
Marco Ciurcina (Torino)
iCommons Italy, Legal aspects
Lawyer, University of Turin
ciurcina@studiolegale.it
Antonio Amelia (Milano)
iCommons Italy, Legal aspects
Trainee Lawyer
antonio.amelia@creativecommons.it
Juan Carlos De Martin (Torino)
iCommons Italy, Technical aspects
Principal Research Scientist, IEIIT-CNR
juancarlos.demartin@ieiit.cnr.it
Lorenzo De Tomasi (Sesto Calende, Varese)
iCommons Italy, Communication and creative initiatives
Communication Designer
lorenzo.detomasi@creativecommons.it
Glenn Otis Brown (Palo Alto)
Creative Commons, Executive Director
glenn@creativecommons.org
