Press Releases
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES OFFERED IN PERU
Silicon Valley-based NGO reinforces its activities around the globe and introduces its innovative copyright licenses in Peru.
San Francisco, CA, USA; Berlin, GERMANY; and Lima, Peru — June 29, 2006 — Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative work free to share and build upon today announced the launch of its licenses in Peru.
Creative Commons copyright licenses are available free of charge from the group’s website. The licenses allow authors and artists to mark their works as free to copy or transform under certain conditions—to declare “some rights reserved,” in contrast to the traditional “all rights reserved”—thereby enabling others to access a growing pool of raw materials without legal friction.
Staff at Creative Commons’ offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with a project leads Oscar Montezuma and Pedro Mendizabal in Peru to adapt the standardized licenses to Peruvian law. Creative Commons Peru is hosted by Computers Professionals for Social Responsibility – Peru (CPSR-Peru).
“The Peruvian version of the Creative Commons licenses will be launched after the iLaw Program 2006 being held at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford University, CEO & Chairman of Creative Commons, will deliver the keynote speech on the importance of Creative Commons Peru”, says Oscar Montezuma.
“CC has been very well received in Peru. It has quickly gained the interest of many individuals and institutions ranging from the private to public sector. Success has been such, that I think Peru can eventually become a promising global free culture spot in South America“.
“We are proud of the achievements of the Creative Commons community in Peru. This is a success for all Peruvian authors and creators,“ adds Pedro Mendizabal.
The President of the National Institute of Defense of the Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), Santiago Roca, greeted the launching of Creative Commons Perú, welcoming it as a legitimate exercise of authors that would allow them to grant universal access of their works, without the obligation of economic compensation.
About CPSR-Peru
CPSR-Peru is a public interest research centre on information and communications technology (ICT). Founded in Lima in October 2002, as a civil society non-profit association, its mission is to promote the use and development of ICT in a socially responsible way; to influence the process of public policies decision-making related to ICT and to foster the development of a more humane information society. For more information about CPSR-Peru visit their site.
About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation founded in 2001, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in the public domain—by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained by the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and the Hewlett Foundation. For general information, visit their site.
Contact
Oscar Montezuma
CPSR-Peru, Lima
Email
Christiane Henckel von Donnersmarck
Executive Director Creative Commons International, Creative Commons
Email
Mia Garlick
General Counsel & COO, Creative Commons
Email
Microsoft and Creative Commons Release Tool for Copyright Licensing
The organizations announce availability of Microsoft Office add-in that enables easy access to Creative Commons copyright licenses.
Redmond, WA, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA – June 20, 2006
Microsoft Corp. and Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that offers flexible copyright licenses for creative works, have teamed up to release a copyright licensing tool that enables the easy addition of Creative Commons licensing information for works in popular Microsoft® Office applications. The copyright licensing tool will be available free of charge at Microsoft Office Online. The tool will enable the 400 million users of Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel® and Microsoft Office PowerPoint® to select one of several Creative Commons licenses from within the specific application.
“We’re delighted to work with Creative Commons to bring fresh and collaborative thinking on copyright licensing to authors and artists of all kinds,” said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft. “We are honored that creative thinkers everywhere choose to use Microsoft tools to give shape to their ideas. We’re committed to removing barriers to the sharing of ideas across borders and cultures, and are offering this copyright tool in that
spirit.”
“The goal of Creative Commons is to provide authors and artists with simple tools to mark their creative work with the freedom they intend it to carry,” said Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of
Creative Commons. “We’re incredibly excited to work with Microsoft to make that ability easily available to the hundreds of millions of users of Microsoft Office.”
“It’s thrilling to see big companies like Microsoft working with nonprofits to make it easier for artists and creators to distribute their works,” said Gilberto Gil, cultural minister of Brazil, host nation for the Creative Commons iSummit in Rio de Janeiro June 23 through 25, where the copyright licensing tool will be featured. Gil, who will keynote at the iSummit, has released one of the first documents using the Creative Commons add-in for Microsoft Office.
The goal of the Creative Commons licenses is to give an author a clearer ability to express his or her intentions regarding the use of the work. The Microsoft Office tool allows users to choose from a variety of Creative Commons licenses that enable an author to retain copyright ownership, yet permit the work to be copied and distributed with certain possible restrictions, such as whether or not the work can be used commercially and whether or not modifications can be made to the work. The full list of licenses available from Creative Commons is available online at http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses. The tool also provides a way for users to dedicate a work to the public domain.
“Microsoft’s openness in working with the Creative Commons is a very exciting because an author can now easily embed licenses to creative works during the process of innovation,” said Ian Angell, professor of Information Systems at the London School of Economics (LSE). “This is an important step in ensuring that each individual becomes aware of his or her own intellectual property rights — and those of others. We at the LSE are keen to work with Microsoft toward empowering the ‘creators of intellectual wealth’ to become more involved in its commercial use.” The LSE partners with Creative Commons to drive Creative Commons license adoption and awareness in England and Wales.
“Creative Commons licenses are essential for protecting my creative work and for sharing it with others. They help with copyright issues, which frees me to do my job: making movies. I’m glad Microsoft Office users can now so easily
use Creative Commons’ tools,” said Davis Guggenheim, director of the documentaries “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Teach” and member of the board of directors of Creative Commons.
“The collaboration of Microsoft and Creative Commons to bring Creative Commons licenses to Microsoft Office applications underscores how for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations can work together to bring innovative
ideas and tools to the public,” said Alan Yates, general manager of the Information Worker Division at Microsoft.
Microsoft and Creative Commons partnered with 3sharp LLC, a Redmond-based independent solution provider to develop and test the copyright licensing tool.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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. Creative Commons licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists and educators that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. It is sustained by the generous support of various foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation as well as members of the public. For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org.
Contact
Jessica Coffman
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
(425) 638-7000
Email
Rapid Response Team
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
(503) 443-7070
Email
Eric Steuer
Creative Commons
(415) 946-3039
Email
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.
No Comments »CREATIVE COMMONS ANNOUNCES OPEN VIDEO CONTEST WITH THE FEDORA PROJECT
San Francisco, USA – June 20, 2006
Creative Commons and the Fedora Project are pleased to announce the Open Video Contest taking place now. The contest promotes flexible copyright, open media formats and the Fedora Project.
Entries must be 30 seconds or less, in OGG Theora format, promote freedom and openness, and be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license.
Visit http://creativecommons.org/video/openvideocontest/ before July 20, 2006 to enter.
The contest will be judged by representatives of the Fedora Project and Red Hat, Creative Commons jurisdiction leads from Brazil, Nigeria, and Poland, and a representative of the Wikimedia Foundation Special Projects Committee.
“This contest spreads the message that a combination of open licensing, open formats and open source software gives creators, consumers, and developers infinite freedom” says Alex Maier, Chair of Fedora Ambassadors Steering Committee.
About OGG Theora
Theora is an open, royalty-free video codec developed by the Xiph.org Foundation as part of the Ogg multimedia framework. Theora is released to the public under a BSD-style open source software license, completely free for commercial or noncommercial use. For more information about Theora visit http://theora.org.
About the Fedora Project
The Fedora Project is a Red Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source project. The goal? Work with the Linux community to build a complete, general purpose operating system exclusively from free software. Public forum. Rapid progress. Open process. A proving ground for new technology that may eventually make its way into Red Hat products.
Fedora Core is an operating system and platform, based on Linux, that is always free for anyone to use, modify and distribute, now and forever. It is developed by a large community of people who strive to provide and maintain the very best in free, open source software and standards.
About Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works – whether owned or in the public domain. Creative Commons licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. Creative Commons is sustained by the generous support of various foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as members of the public. For more information about Creative Commons, visit the organization’s Web site (http://creativecommons.org/).
Contact
Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons
Email
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES OFFERED IN DENMARK
San Francisco, USA, Berlin, GERMANY – June 12, 2006
Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that provides flexible copyright licenses for authors and artists, unveiled a localized version of its innovative licensing system in Denmark on Saturday.
Creative Commons copyright licenses are available free of charge from the group’s website.The licenses allow authors and artists to mark their works as free to copy or transform under certain conditions—to declare “some rights reserved,” in contrast to the traditional “all rights reserved”—thereby enabling others to access a growing pool of creative materials without legal friction.
Staff at Creative Commons’ offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with Project Leads Thomas Riis and Jan Trzaskowski to adapt the standardized
licenses to Danish law. Creative Commons Denmark are supported by the Law Department of Copenhagen Business School.
On June 10, the Danish versions of the Creative Commons licenses were launched in Copenhagen at a ceremony held in Politikens Foredragssal. At
the event, hosted by Copenhagen Business School, Professor Lawrence Lessig (Chairman and CEO of Creative Commons) gave the keynote
address. The ceremony was sponsored by Copenhagen Business School, Bender von Haller Dragsted law firm and IBM Denmark.
Says Dr. Thomas Riis, “The Creative Commons licenses will benefit the cultural life in Denmark. Creators and users of everything from music,
weblogs and homepages to paintings and books will profit from the licenses.” Dr. Jan Trzaskowski adds that “the licenses make it much easier
and faster to exchange creative works, which falls perfectly in line with the vibrant cultural life in today’s Denmark”.
About Copenhagen Business School
Copenhagen Business School (CBS) has around 14,000 students and an annual intake of around 1,000 exchange students. With this number of students as well as around 400 full-time researchers and around 500 administrative employees,
CBS is the one of the 3 largest business schools in Northern Europe. The
Law Department’s aim is to maintain, develop and present research of a
high standard within the field of commercial law. Commercial law is
subject to research together with other faculty activities. For general information, visit their website.
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. Creative Commons licences provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. It is sustained by the generous support of various foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation as well as members of the public. For general information, visit their website.
Contact
Christiane Henckel von Donnersmarck
Executive Director, Creative Commons International, Creative Commons
Email
PEARL JAM RELEASES ITS FIRST MUSIC VIDEO IN EIGHT YEARS UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
“Life Wasted” Clip Available for Download at Google Video and PearlJam.com
May 19, 2006
Today, Creative Commons announced that the video for Pearl Jam’s new single “Life Wasted” will be offered to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs license, so that the people around the world can legally copy, distribute, and share the clip.
This announcement marks the first time in eight years that Pearl Jam has released a music video. It is also the first time that the band has licensed work under one of Creative Commons’ free, flexible copyright licenses.
“Once again, Pearl Jam is taking the lead, watching others in the rear view mirror,” says Lawrence Lessig, CEO of Creative Commons. “Pearl Jam’s decision to offer its new video to the public under a Creative Commons license proves that the band’s reputation for fan-friendliness is well deserved. It’s an inspiration to those of us who are passionate about building a pool of creative work that can be freely and legally shared by the world.”
Pearl Jam and J Records are offering the video as a free download at Google Video and PearlJam.com from today, May 19th, through May 24th. After May 24th, the clip will be made available for sale.
About Pearl Jam
Since the 1991 release of Pearl Jam’s multi-platinum debut album Ten, the band has sold nearly 60 million albums worldwide, including millions of live bootlegs. To date, the band has released eight studio albums, two live collections, a double-disc collection of B-sides, and a double-disc greatest hits set.
About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation founded in 2001, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works – whether owned or in the public domain – by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained by the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation. For general information, visit creativecommons.org
Contact
Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons
415-946-3039
Email
David Byrne and Brian Eno’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts Remix Site Launches Today
May 9, 2006
For the first time ever, fans are able to legally remix and share their own personal versions of two songs from David Byrne and Brian Eno’s groundbreaking album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. The interactive forum bush-of-ghosts.com has been developed to celebrate the reissue of the album 25 years after its original release.
By agreeing to the terms of download, users will be able to download the component audio for two tracks from Bush of Ghosts – “A Secret Life” and “Help Me Somebody.” This component audio is licensed to the public under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. Consistent with that license, users can legally create remixes and upload them to the site. Visitors can listen to, rate, and discuss the remixes, and are also encouraged to create their own videos, which will be streamed on the site.
When My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was first released in 1981, Rolling Stone called it “an undeniably awesome feat of tape editing and rhythmic ingenuity.” It was widely considered a watershed record. The influence of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is evident in music ranging from the Bomb Squad’s productions for Public Enemy to Moby. The re-mixed and remastered version of the album was released with 7 bonus tracks on April 11.
About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation founded in 2001, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in the public domain—by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained by the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation. For general information, visit creativecommons.org.
Contact
Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons
415-946-3039
Email
PODCASTING LEGAL GUIDE RELEASED TO ASSIST PODCASTERS NAVIGATE POTENTIALLY TROUBLED LEGAL WATERS
San Francisco, USA — May 8, 2006
Creative Commons and Vogele & Associates today unveiled the Podcasting Legal Guide, which was prepared by both organizations together with the invaluable assistance of the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School’s Clinical Program in Cyberlaw. The Guide was prepared as part of the Stanford Center for Internet & Society’s Non-Residential Fellowship. Inspired by the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Legal Guide for Bloggers, the Podcasting Legal Guide is designed to outline both legal and practical issues that are specifically relevant for podcasters, such as using music and video in a podcast.
The Guide has been published both online and as a PDF under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license. A hardcopy of the Guide can also be ordered via Lulu in print-on-demand for $5.37 (black & white) or $10.83 (color). The authors hope that the flexible license chosen will enable practitioners in different jurisdictions to translate and adapt the guide for their own jurisdictions to assist podcasters around the world.
“This is an exciting time,” said Colette Vogele, founder of Vogele & Associates. “With the proliferation of user-generated and user-manipulated content on the web through podcasting and other technologies, anyone has the potential to become a publisher of original or remixed content overnight. At the same time, these new media technologies remain for the most part legally untested. We hope this Guide will encourage readers to take an active role in understanding the legal issues affecting their podcasts, and implement techniques and resources to podcast legally.”
“The body of copyright and related laws that governs the use of other people’s content in a podcast is, as Larry Lessig notes in his foreword to the Guide, ‘insanely complex,’” noted Phil Malone, co-director of the Berkman Center’s Clinical Program. “This Guide seeks to serve as a common-sense overview of some of that complexity and to help podcasters understand the variety of alternatives they might have to safely use music, video and other materials.”
To coincide with the release of the Guide, Creative Commons has released podcast promos from several prominent artists including DJ Spooky, Kristin Hersh, Jonathan Coulton, Finian Mckean, and Au Revoir Simone. These promos are available for podcasters who use CC-licensed music to include in their podcasts. Creative Commons invites other artists to submit promos for inclusion at the site.
About Vogele & Associates
Vogele & Associates advises businesses, non-profits, and individuals on a range of intellectual property issues related to new media and internet technologies. Founder Colette Vogele holds a non-residential fellowship with Stanford’s Center for Internet & Society and writes and speaks internationally on intellectually property issues.
About the Berkman Center Clinical Program in Cyberlaw
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School is a research program founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. The Berkman Center’s Clinical Program in Cyberlaw provides high-quality, pro-bono legal services to appropriate individuals, small start-ups, non-profit groups and government entities regarding cutting-edge issues of the Internet, new technology and intellectual property. For information on the Center, visit the Center’s website; to learn more about the Clinical Program visit the Program’s site.
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. Creative Commons licences provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. It is sustained by the generous support of various foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation as well as members of the public. For general information, visit the Creative Commons’ website.
Contact
Colette Vogele
Vogele & Associates
415 751 5737
Email
Mia Garlick
General Counsel, Creative Commons
415 946 3073
Email
CREATIVE COMMONS ANNOUNCES CRAMMED DISCS REMIX CONTEST FEATURING MUSIC FROM CIBELLE, DJ DOLORES, AND APOLLO NOVE
San Francisco, USA & Brussels, Belgium – April 17, 2006
Creative Commons and Crammed Discs are pleased to announce the Crammed Discs Remix Contest taking place now at ccMixter. Crammed Discs artists Cibelle, DJ Dolores, and Apollo Nove — three of Brazil’s most creative musical innovators — are offering the audio source files from three songs online under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, so that producers worldwide can use the sounds in remixes and new compositions. The general public is invited to download these tracks and create their own versions, appropriate elements in new compositions, and generally use the elements for any noncommercial creative expression.
Cibelle, DJ Dolores, and Apollo Nove will each select the three best remixes of their respective songs; these nine remixes will be included on a Crammed remix compilation, which will be sold online through digital music stores.
To enter, download the separated audio elements of Cibelle’s “Noite de Carnaval,” DJ Dolores’s “Sanidade,” and Apollo Nove’s “Yage Cameras,” and upload a remix to ccMixter between April 26, 2006 and May 24, 2006. All entries must be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 license. Under this license, the public may legally make copies of, distribute, and create derivative works from the remixes – as long as the original authors are credited and the uses are not for commercial purposes.
Quotes about the Crammed Discs Remix Contest:
Cibelle
“The whole process of making music has changed. The very concept of composition now extends to the creation of sounds and textures. I’m very curious to see how other people will use and manipulate my sounds and how they will use them as tools to create new music.”
Apollo Nove
“I like the idea of giving people the opportunity to hear what I hear when I’m producing — a separate candomblé percussion track or some painstakingly constructed soundscape. If mixing is part of the compositional process, it’s only natural that I try sharing the compositional responsibilities with anyone interested in taking them on.”
DJ Dolores
“This is what every intelligent musician should do. The idea is to share and allow one’s work to be cut up, reinvented and — who knows — transformed into something even better than the original. This isn’t about generosity; it’s about inventing new ways of creating musical products that go well beyond the world of physical carriers like vinyl and CDs.”
Marc Hollander, founder of Crammed Discs
“Artists should be able to decide that they want to share certain elements of their music, while keeping some control of the process. The development of broadband has opened up a whole range of great creative possibilities – ¬¬the most stimulating, playful, and exciting being the exchange of musical elements with people you don’t know.”
About Crammed Discs
Crammed Discs has developed a high profile worldwide as one of the leading purveyors of quality music. A resolutely cosmopolitan-minded label based in Brussels, Crammed works with artists from all over the globe. Crammed’s roster includes Brazilian artists Bebel Gilberto, Zuco 103, Celso Fonseca, and Cibelle; electronic acts such as Snooze, Juryman, and DJ Morpheus; as well Romanian Gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks, Persian vocalist Sussan Deyhim, Macedonian brass band Koçani Orkestar, and French composer Hector Zazou.
About Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works – whether owned or in the public domain. Creative Commons licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. Creative Commons is sustained by the generous support of various foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as members of the public. For more information about Creative Commons, visit the organization’s Web site (http://creativecommons.org/).
Contact
Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons
Email
CREATIVE COMMONS COPYRIGHT LICENSES LAUNCH IN MALTA
San Francisco, USA, and Berlin, Germany – April 7, 2006
Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that provides flexible copyright licenses for authors and artists, today unveils the localized version of its innovative licensing system in Malta. With Malta offering Creative Commons licenses tailored for the specifics of the local legal system, Creative Commons licenses and tools are now available in 30 jurisdictions worldwide.
Creative Commons copyright licenses are available free of charge from the group’s website. The licenses allow authors and artists to mark their works as free to copy or transform under certain conditions—to declare “some rights reserved,” in contrast to the traditional “all rights reserved”—thereby enabling others to access a growing pool of raw materials without legal friction.
Staff at Creative Commons’ offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with Project Leads Brian Restall, Daniele Cop and Alex Spiteri Gingell to adapt the standardized licenses to Maltese law. Creative Commons Malta is being supported by Projects in Motion Ltd.
Today the Maltese versions of the Creative Commons licenses will be launched in Malta, at a launch event being held in the Ammon Suite at the Dolmen Hotel. The launch will follow the closing ceremony of the “Globalisation and Harmonisation in Technology Law” conference held by the British & Irish Law, Education Technology Association (BILETA). The event will be hosted by the Law & Information Technology Research Unit of the University of Malta. Professor Lawrence Lessig (Chairman and CEO of Creative Commons) will give the keynote address.
Brian Restall, CEO of Projects in Motion Ltd. Said “The intention behind porting the Creative Commons licenses to Malta was to encourage Maltese artists, students, academics, and researchers to share and distribute their work for free; and help relax the current copyright all-or-nothing proposition. This will permit the local content industry to allow others to copy, distribute, and build on their work so that it can be used in other creative and interesting ways, while still protecting certain parts of their work. This is a very important milestone for the Maltese content industry and provides the legal basis for the free exchange of digital content and a sharing economy in Malta.“
About Project in Motion Ltd. (PiM)
Projects in Motion Ltd (PiM) was set up to provide the leadership and expertise required to boost Malta’s participation in a range of European programmes and initiatives. It addresses the need expressed by local SMEs for more specific information and assistance structures, promoting international cooperation and networking; and offering services related to ICTs, management, research, training and dissemination activities. PiM’s network of experts covers areas like ICT, education, health, law, as well as cultural, scientific, environmental, agricultural and socio-economic disciplines. Through its association with other multipliers, PiM will strive to overcome the existing high fragmentation of resources. It will support the clustering of local players to create knowledge-intensive, multi-stakeholder partnerships possessing the critical mass needed to achieve excellence. PiM therefore aims to facilitate the transformation of local SMEs into learning organisations set to reap the benefits of the knowledge economy. For general information, visit PiM’s website.
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. Creative Commons licences provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. It is sustained by the generous support of various foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation as well as members of the public. For general information, visit their site.
Contact
Christiane Henckel von Donnersmarck
Executive Director Creative Commons International, Creative Commons
Email
+49.30.280.93.909
CREATIVE COMMONS ADDS TWO NEW BOARD MEMBERS
San Francisco, USA — March 30, 2006
Creative Commons is pleased to announce the addition of two new members to its Board of Directors — Jimmy Wales and Laurie Racine.
Jimmy Wales is the founder and President of the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit corporation which operates Wikipedia, the volunteer-created, multi-lingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia, in addition to the co-founder and chairman of Wikia, Inc., the for-profit corporation which operates Wikia.com, a broader set of collaborative communities.
Laurie Racine works with for-profits and not for profit enterprises that are concerned with the future of creativity in the digital age. She was President of the Center for the Public Domain and is Chair and co-founder of Public Knowledge.
Lawrence Lessig, Creative Commons’ CEO & Chairman of the Board said “Jimmy brings to Creative Commons his indepth knowledge about the issues arising from collaborative, freely licensed projects and Laurie brings her extensive managerial experience in the creative and technology communities. Both are valuable complements that enhance the existing expertise of the Creative Commons’ Board members.”
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. Creative Commons licences provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. It is sustained by the generous support of various foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation as well as members of the public. For general information, visit the group’s website.
Contact
Mia Garlick
General Counsel
Creative Commons
Email
