Creative Commons introduces its innovative copyright licenses at the Free Culture Festival in Zagreb

San Francisco, USA and Zagreb, CROATIA  Jan. 19, 2005  Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that provides a flexible copyright for authors and artists, this week unveiled a localized version of its innovative licensing system in Croatia. The Creative Commons licenses afford 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 the announcement, Creative Commons now offers free legal tools in a total of fourteen country-specific versions. The organization already provides copyright licenses specific to Austrian, Belgian, Brazilian, 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 Commons’s offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with project leads Tomislav Medak and Diane Kovaeeviae Remenariae of the Multimedia Institute (mi2), Zagreb, to adapt the standardized licenses for use under Croatian law.

Medak said, “In Croatia there was a powerful grass-roots free culture movement even before we started transposing the licenses into Croatian law. We hope to be able to build on the festival’s momentum to promote rapid license uptake.”

Creative Commons released the new legal tools, which are available free of charge from the Creative Commons website, at the Free Culture Festival in Zagreb, which featured an exhibition, various lectures, and a two-day concert that brought together representatives of the burgeoning local music scene and British artists from Loca Records. Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford University and chairman of Creative Commons, delivered a keynote speech at the festival.

“Many thanks to Diane and Tomislav for their terrific work,” says Glenn Otis Brown, Executive Director of Creative Commons. “The organization’s tremendous international growth is due entirely to our network of top-notch experts and volunteers worldwide. ”

The continued global expansion of Creative Commons is one of the main priorities of the San Francisco-based organization for 2005.

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

Contact

Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
iCommons Coordinator
Creative Commons

Glenn Otis Brown (San Francisco)
Executive Director
Creative Commons

Press Kit