San Francisco, USA, and London, United Kingdom – May 17, 2005 – Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a body of creative works free to share and build upon, today announced the launch of Creative Commons International. Incorporated in the UK as a nonprofit organization, Creative Commons International will provide support to the global network of collaboration partners of Creative Commons who have taken on the responsibility of translating the Creative Commons licenses.

To date, as a result of the efforts of our iCommons Executive Director Christiane Asschenfeldt, seventeen different countries – including Brazil, Croatia, Spain, Japan and South Korea – have translated, both literally and legally, the Creative Commons licenses for their local jurisdiction. Twelve other jurisdictions are currently in the process of porting the licenses and overall, Creative Commons is in talks with partners in 70 countries.

Creative Commons International will support Creative Commons’ international collaboration partners after they have launched their locally adapted Creative Commons licenses. This support will include porting Creative Commons’ technologies, such as ccMixter and ccPublisher, to these jurisdictions, representing Creative Commons’ interests in international fora and with significant content providers and artists associations to explain Creative Commons licensing and, thus, indirectly to increase the range of works made available under a Creative Commons license around the globe.

Creative Commons International’s new Executive Director is the former Project Director for the Creative Archive project at the BBC, Paula Le Dieu. Paula has considerable experience in broadcasting and online issues and originally worked in theatre. She is also a dual Australian-English citizen.

The Chairman of the Creative Commons International Board is Joi Ito, a citizen of Japan, and venture capitalist. Joi also serves on the Creative Commons Board of Directors.

Chairman Joi Ito said: “We expect it to be easier to develop a truly international movement if it is directed outside of the United States, and led by non-Americans. Creative Commons’ experience in Africa and Brazil demonstrates that post-launch work with artists is especially important. Organizations within these countries, dedicated to finding ways to support their own local artists, have begun to see Creative Commons as an important tool. By licensing content within the Creative Commons network, access to their creativity can be substantially increased.”

Neeru Paharia, who has served as Assistant Director of Creative Commons since 2002, has been promoted to Executive Director of Creative Commons. Neeru replaces former Creative Commons Executive Director Glenn Otis Brown who has accepted a position as inhouse counsel at Google. Creative Commons CEO and Chairman, Professor Lawrence Lessig, said: “While it is truly a loss to see Glenn go, we are fortunate that, as one of our alumni, we will still have the benefit of Glenn’s insight and experience. We are also fortunate to have Neeru as our new Executive Director because she has worked side-by-side with Glenn over the past three years to establish Creative Commons as a successful organization that speaks to the needs of creators and users of creative works. Neeru is therefore well-placed to maintain the continuity needed to continue to grow Creative Commons and flexibly licensed content.”

Creative Commons has also appointed Mia Garlick to be Creative Commons’ first General Counsel. Mia will work with Creative Commons’ domestic and international offices to oversee legal strategy and advise on the general legal issues that arise for Creative Commons in working towards its goal of encouraging the spread of flexibly licensed content. Mia joins Creative Commons after several years of working in private practice as an intellectual property lawyer.

About Creative Commons

A non-profit founded in 2001, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works – whether owned or in the public domain – by empowering artists 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

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

Paula Le Dieu (London)
Executive Director, Creative Commons International
paula@creativecommons.org

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