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 https://creativecommons.org/.

For more information about iCommons, see https://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:

http://www.dsg.unito.it/.

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:

http://www.ieiit.cnr.it/.

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