San Francisco, USA, Berlin, GERMANY, March 16, 2006

Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative work free to share and build upon, today unveils a localized version of its innovative licensing system in Mexico.

Creative Commons copyright licenses are available free of charge from the group’s website. The licenses allow authors and artists to mark their works as free to copy or transform under certain conditions—to declare “some rights reserved,” in contrast to the traditional “all rights reserved”—thereby enabling others to access a growing pool of raw materials without legal friction.

Staff at Creative Commons’ offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with Project Leads Leon Felipe Sanchez Ambia, and Jorge Ringenbach to adapt the standardized licenses to Mexican law. Creative Commons Mexico is being supported by Fulton & Fulton, S.C.

Today the Mexican versions of the Creative Commons licenses will be launched in Mexico City, at a ceremony held in the Andromeda Ballroom at the Hotel Nikko Mexico. At the event that is hosted by Fulton & Fulton, S.C., Professor Lawrence Lessig (Chairman and CEO of Creative Commons) will give the keynote address. As part of the launch event, Emilio Saldaña Quiñones, Joint Director General of the Presidency’s Internet System, will be addressing a speech on the adoption of Creative Commons licenses by the Mexican Presidency to release all of their content published on the internet under a BY-NC-ND 2.5 license.

Leon Felipe Sanchez says, “We got involved in this project focused on the benefits it would carry to, mainly, young creators who are willing to share their works and build upon others’ works as part of the cultural growth in our country. As lawyers, we also wanted to help the authors get back their power to decide what best suits their needs in relation to their works. We’re living in a time in which commerce has constrained author’s rights to the will of big enterprises and this isn’t helping anyone else but them”.

Says Jorge Ringenbach “We believe that advanced contracting and intellectual property issues are matters that have great involvement with today’s technology changes, so what a better way to get involved in such issues that with a project with a noble cause that helps culture spread in a more friendly way.”

About Fulton & Fulton, S.C.

Fulton & Fulton, S.C., founded in 2002, is a premium level, young attorney’s law firm with wide experience on intellectual property law based in Mexico City. The attorneys are committed with keeping updated on every issue the firm is involved. Fulton & Fulton leads the legal porting project for CC in Mexico as a pro-bono activity that pursues to contribute on the research and development of new ways to understand and use intellectual property rights. More information about Fulton & Fulton, S.C. is available at at their website.

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001, that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in the public domain. Creative Commons licences provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. It is sustained by the generous support of various foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation as well as members of the public. For general information, visit the group’s site.

Contact

Christiane Henckel von Donnersmarck
Executive Director
Creative Commons International, Creative Commons
Email
+49.30.280.93.909

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