San Francisco- and Tokyo-based venture capitalist, technologist, and
policy expert joins leadership of the Silicon Valley nonprofit

Palo Alto, USA — Creative Commons, a nonprofit
corporation dedicated to expanding the world of reusable content online,
announced today that Joichi Ito has joined its Board of Directors. Ito is
a venture capitalist, technologist, and internationally popular weblogger
and commentator based in California and Japan.

“We are thrilled to have Joi Ito join the team,” said Lawrence Lessig,
chairman of Creative Commons and professor of law at Stanford University.
“His unique breadth of experience in technology, business, and policy —
and his well-earned reputation as an innovator on an international level
— make him a perfect new colleague for our growing organization.”

“Protecting the commons is essential for enabling emerging technologies
and businesses in networked consumer electronics and the Internet,” said
Ito. “It is critical for Japan and the rest of the world to understand
and embrace Creative Commons‚ principles and tools. I am honored to join
this world-class organization to help make it happen.”

Ito joins a Board of Directors that includes Lessig; fellow cyberlaw
experts James Boyle, Michael Carroll, and Molly Shaffer Van Houweling;
public domain web publisher Eric Eldred; filmmaker Davis Guggenheim; MIT
computer science professor Hal Abelson; and lawyer-turned-documentary
filmmaker-turned-cyberlawyer Eric Saltzman.

More about Joichi Ito

Joichi Ito is the founder and CEO of Neoteny, http://www.neoteny.com, a
venture capital firm focused on personal communications and enabling
technologies. He has created numerous Internet companies including PSINet
Japan, Digital Garage and Infoseek Japan. In 1997 Time ranked him as a
member of the CyberElite. In 2000 he was ranked among the “50 Stars of
Asia” by Business Week and commended by the Japanese Ministry of Posts
and Telecommunications for supporting the advancement of IT. In 2001 the
World Economic Forum chose him as one of the 100 “Global Leaders of
Tomorrow” for 2002.

More information at http://joi.ito.com.

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. Creative Commons is based at
Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with
the school’s Center for Internet and Society.

More information at https://creativecommons.org.

Contact

Glenn Otis Brown
Executive Director
Creative Commons
1.650.723.7572 (tel)
1.415.336.1433 (cell)
glenn -AT- creativecommons.org

Joichi Ito
jito -AT- neoteny.com

Neeru Paharia
Assistant Director
Creative Commons
1.650.724.3717 (tel)
1.510.823.1073 (cell)
neeru -AT- creativecommons.org