The Silicon Valley nonprofit releases South Korean versions of its innovative copyright licenses at the High Court in Seoul.

San Francisco, USA and Seoul, SOUTH KOREA, March 21, 2005 – Creative Commons, a non-profit organization that offers free, flexible copyright tools to the general public, today unveiled a localized version of its innovative licensing system in South Korea. The Creative Commons licenses are available (free of charge) from the group’s website http://www.creativecommons.org. – affording authors and publishers an intermediate degree of protection over their photos, music, text, films, and educational materials under a “some rights reserved” copyright, in contrast to the traditional “all rights reserved.”

With South Korea being the latest country to join its international effort, Creative Commons now offers free legal tools in a total of 15 country-specific versions. The organization already provides copyright licenses specific to Australian, Austrian, Brazilian, Belgian, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, U.S., Taiwanese, Canadian, and Spanish law, thanks to a global network of artists, lawyers, and technologists.

Staff at Creative Common’s offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with Professor Suk-Ho Bang of Hongik University, Seoul and project lead Professor Dae-Hee Lee of the Inha Law School and the Korea Association for Info-Media Law (KAFIL) as Affiliate Institution to adapt the standardized licenses for use under Korean law.

“We are very happy to make Creative Commons a reality for artists, lawyers and Internet users here in South Korea”, says Professor Suk-Ho Bang. Professor Suk-Ho Bang and his team worked together with Judge Jongsoo Yoon to release the Creative Commons licenses in South Korea.

The Creative Commons South Korean licenses were launched at an official function at the South Korean High Court in Seoul. Chairman of the Creative Commons Board, Professor Lawrence Lessig, presented at the function and also discussed Creative Commons with judges from the South Korean High Court.

The ongoing global expansion of the Creative Commons project is one of the main priorities of the San Francisco-based organization this year.

About Korea Association for Info-Media Law (KAFIL)

KAFIL was found in 1996 by distinguished leadership of Judge Chan-Hyun Hwang. KAFIL focuses on information law issues. KAFIL is a unique organization in part because of its member composition. The majority of regular members are judges and public prosecutors and thus, it is situated as the leading law association in Korea, bridging academicians and legal professionals. KAFIL holds an annual symposium around June and three academic seminars at other times during the year. In addition, KAFIL hosts bimonthly case study workshops that enable debates among legal professionals on topical issues. KAFIL also published its own law journal on biannual basis.

For general information, visit KAFIL’s website

For information about iCommons Korea, visit Creative Commons Korea Project 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 Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation.

For general information, visit the Creative Commons website

Contacts

Professor Suk-Ho Bang (Seoul)
Inha Law School
bang5555@hotmail.com

Neeru Paharia (San Francisco)
Creative Commons
neeru@creativecommons.org

Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
iCommons
christiane@creativecommons.org

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