Budapest, Hungary & San Francisco, USA — February 15, 2006

Creative Commons Hungary, a collaboration between Center for Media Research and Education, and the nonprofit organization Creative Commons, is pleased to highlight the recent release by acting Hungarian Prime Minister Mr. Ferenc Gyurcsany and his publisher Napvilag of Mr. Gyurcsany’s recent book “Utkozben” (In Transit) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. This license clearly signals to members of the public that they are free to download and redistribute the book provided they do so noncommercially and with attribution.

“Utkozben” summarizes Mr. Gyurcsany’s political philosophy and outlines his new Hungarian social democratic program. The book is available from the publisher’s website.

Mr. Gyurcsany’s book comes in the wake of comments by the Hungarian Culture Minister Mr. András Bozóki to the meeting of the Inclusive Europe Conference of European Ministers of Culture held in Budapest in November 2005 in which Mr. Bozóki acknowledged that “[a]ccess to culture is often faced with limitations posed by contemporary copyright regimes” and recommended that “we should begin a process of finding creative ways to rethinking our intellectual property system that we inherited from the last centuries.” Mr. Bozóki specifically identified Creative Commons as one of the initiatives that “widen[s] access to culture in the public domain, in the public interest, and contribute[s] to the competitiveness of European cultural products.” (For a copy of the speech see this page).

Balazs Bodo of the CC Hungary project team said “In the global market of cultural goods, Creative Commons and the free culture approach are essential tools to maintain the cultural heritage for such small and marginal cultures as the Hungarian. With it Hungarian cultural goods are not only technically available but legally accessible as well.”

About The Center for Media Research and Education (MOKK)

The Center for Media Research and Education (MOKK) was founded in 2002 as a joint effort of the Department of Sociology and Communication at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and the leading Hungarian telecommunication company, Hungarian Telecom, with the aim of furthering multi-disciplinary research and education in the field of new media in Hungary. MOKK is built around the conviction that it is impossible to understand the sociocultural effects of new technologies without taking into account their technical foundations and attributes—and equally, that in order to develop successful new media applications one needs to understand the sociocultural context of their use. For more information about MOKK, visit their 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 their site.

Contact

Balazs Bodo (Budapest)
CC Hungary
Email

Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
Creative Commons International
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