We are pleased to announce today that our friends at the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) at American University Washington College of Law have taken over leadership and stewardship of the Open COVID Pledge (OCP). Last year, Creative Commons joined forces with an international group of volunteer researchers, scientists, academics, and lawyers…

“United Nations Headquarters” by United Nations Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 As an important part of our stewardship of the Open COVID Pledge, we are pleased to announce that the Pledge is now available in all six of the official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. This…

We’re pleased to announce today that Creative Commons is taking on leadership and stewardship of the Open COVID Pledge. Earlier this year, CC joined forces with an international group of researchers, scientists, academics, and lawyers seeking to accelerate the development of diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, medical equipment, and software solutions that might be used to assist…

Momentum continues to swell in support of the Open COVID Pledge, with the announcement today by Amazon, Facebook, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Microsoft, and Sandia National Laboratories, that they are pledging their patents to the public to freely use in support of solving the COVID-19 pandemic. Following in the footsteps of Intel, Fabricatorz Foundation, and…

Creative Commons has joined forces with other legal experts and leading scientists to offer a simple way for universities, companies, and other holders of intellectual property rights to support the development of medicines, test kits, vaccines, and other scientific discoveries related to COVID-19 for the duration of the pandemic. The Open COVID Pledge grants the…

In early 2020, something unusual happened in the academic community. A normally guarded community accustomed to holding their data and research papers close, began to adopt much more open practices. Researchers came in droves to preprint servers to post versions of their research papers – that had not yet been peer reviewed – to make…

"Trailing Again" by Jacob Surland Fine Art Photographer is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Last month, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) and Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) released a publication entitled Global Britain for an open world? Open societies around the world and the international system that supports them are under growing threat. This publication examines the importance of open societies to the UK’s ‘force for good’ ambitions.  Edited…

Credit: "33962822768_a6f5d169b8_o" Sebastiaan ter Burg (CC BY)

COVID-19 has changed many things about how we all learn, work, and play. In fact, it has drastically changed how we lead our lives. But in these exceptionally distressing times, one thing that hasn’t changed is the dynamism and resilience of the Creative Commons (CC) community. In this blog post, we’re thrilled to share some…

Astronaut Edwin Aldrin walks on lunar surface near leg of Lunar Module. Credit: Neil Armstrong/NASA, (1969) in the public domain.

It’s July 20, 1969.  Along with 600 million people, nine-year-old Chris Hadfield is glued to his television—watching intently as American astronaut Neil Armstrong glides down the ladder of the Lunar Module, and in one swift pounce, touches the dust of a familiar yet alien world. His words forever immortalized, “That’s one small step for man,…

You’ve heard the stories: engineers 3D printing face shields in their basements; do-it-yourself hobbyists sewing face masks; and fashion designers crafting personal protection gowns.  Globally, people are trying to help fill the medical supply gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic through open-source medical hardware. It’s a heartwarming display of global ingenuity, innovation, and collaboration. In this…