The launch ceremony of the Belgian CC Licences took place in the Bibliotheque Royale in Brussels on 10 December as part of the electronic music and free software festival Jonctions 8.

Creative Commons country head Severine Dusollier – a young researcher of copyright law at the University of Namur – had invited an interesting panel comprising artists, publishers, academics, lawyers and representatives from the collecting societies. With more than 150 participants in the audience, the panel discussion took place in a splendid setting and was lead by Suzanne Capiau, a prominent avocate in Brussels. It focussed (1) on the legal viability of the licences under Belgian law, (2) on a comparative analysis of the licences within an EU perspective as well as (3) on the necessary adjustments collecting societies will have to make to accommodate the growing desire of artists to distribute their works on a ‘Some Rights Reserved’ basis. The latter issue in particular is becoming increasingly urgent and was much debated at various conferences I attended throughout Europe in the second half of 2004.

The launch event ended on a somewhat lighter note, as local DJ Lo-bat was showing off some of his new works licenced under CC in an exclusive concert for us. Here’s Lo-bat’s personal introduction to what he’s doing:
“Lo-bat is all about squeezing dirt cheap computers so hard they start moaning and rattling like nothing you heard before […] No style is safe: from brutal experiments to soft pop, he can do it all. He picked up the guitar again […] so watch out, maybe you’re lucky enough to be the first one seeing him torturing it live.” So we all relaxed to Lo-bat’s music!

Many thanks are due to Severine for her outstanding efforts during the last months. Belgium was the seventh EU country to launch.