Silicon Valley-based NGO introduces its innovative copyright licenses in Sweden

San Francisco, CA, USA and Berlin, GERMANY — November 30, 2005 — 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 Sweden.

Creative Commons copyright licenses are available free of charge from the group’s website (https://creativecommons.org). 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 with minimal legal friction.

Staff at Creative Commons’ offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with Project Lead Mathias Klang and Karl Jonsson of the Creative Commons Sweden team to adapt the standardized licenses to Swedish law. Creative Commons Sweden is hosted and supported by the IT University of the University of Göteborg.
Today the Swedish versions of Creative Commons licenses are being launched and will be available at the group’s website.

As a first official use of the Swedish Creative Commons licenses, the Swedish band Auto-Auto will be releasing their new EP “Totem” on December 13, 2005 under a Creative Commons license. “Totem” will contain five tracks and will be available for download at the band’s site. Together with the release, the record company and Internet community Substream are making a remix-kit freely available and will be announcing a competition for the best remix of “Totem.”

About Göteborg University and IT University

IT University is a faculty within Göteborg University. It is a new addition to the centre for IT research, education and development in the west of Sweden. This venture offers excellent scope for cooperation between researchers within different areas of expertise and specializations. The programs offered are based on advanced research and are in a constant state of development.

Göteborg University offers the most comprehensive range of courses and degree programs in Sweden. Göteborg University has about 40 000 students, a staff of well over four thousand, and almost as many part-time teachers spread over approx. 70 departments.

For general information, visit the the Göteborg University website & the IT University 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

Contact

Christiane Asschenfeldt
Executive Director CC International, Creative Commons
Email
+49.30.280.93.909

Mia Garlick
General Counsel & COO,Creative Commons
Email
+ 1.415.946.3073

Mathias Klang
Project Lead Sweden
+46.705.432.213

Karl Jonsson
License coordinator Sweden
+46.707.454.211

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