So a new license draft has been posted here. The changes relate to our standard attribution language and the plan is that they take effect across all of our core licenses. The new version will be 2.5 because it is a minor change. We are in the process of working through other revisions to the…

The online magazine Slate has a great review article on the Star Wars fan-created movie Revelations. Slate’s Clive Thompson gives the film high marks saying the story and special effects are better than the recent Star Wars prequels and even goes so far as to say: George Lucas has always encouraged Star Wars­-inspired fan movies,…

Online music community sees over 30,000 songs licensed under “some rights reserved” copyright in just one month. San Francisco, CA and New York, NY, USA – Soundclick (http://www.soundclick.com), one of the Internet’s largest music community sites, now offers Creative Commons licenses as an option for all songs uploaded to its website. Soundclick, which sees about…

Musicians Joshua Ellis and Big Friendly Corporation have implemented a new technology called BitPass to sell their Creative Commons-licensed content via micropayment. Joshua has offered his songs under an Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license. If you buy a song for 50 cents, or the entire album for $3.50, you’re then free to copy, distribute, and make derivative works…

“Eagle Traffic Signals - 1970s” by RS 1990 is licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0..

“Eagle Traffic Signals – 1970s” by RS 1990 is licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.. At the intersection of rapid advancements in generative AI and our ongoing strategy refresh, we’ve been deeply engaged in researching, analyzing, and fostering conversations about AI and value alignment. Our goal is to ensure that our legal and technical infrastructure remains…

“Violette Heymann, 1910” by Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection ,CC0.

“Violette Heymann, 1910” by Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection ,CC0. Creative Commons’ Open Culture Platform is supporting 25 institutions in opening up access to their collections by the end of 2025. Members of the Platform community will be working together to create a policy template, conduct outreach,…

"The Electric Boots” British Library. Public Domain.

In November 2023, the Court of Appeal in THJ v Sheridan offered an important clarification of the originality requirement under UK copyright law, which clears a path for open culture to flourish in the UK.

“Generative AI & the Creative Cycle Panel” by Jennryn Wetzler for CC BY 4.0.

This week, Creative Commons (CC) convened 100+ participants during two events in New York City to discuss the important issues surrounding generative artificial intelligence (AI), copyright, and creativity. For many years, we at CC have been examining the interplay between copyright and generative AI, exploring ways in which this technology can foster creativity and better…

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Creative Commons licenses, we launched our first ever Open Culture Remix Art Contest #CCSharesCulture in February 2022 to celebrate a better sharing of cultural heritage around the world. Participants were tasked with creating original artworks in line with this year’s theme of “Love Culture? Share Culture!” by remixing…

Our next ‘Meet the CC Summit Presenter’ Q&A features Italian Attorney-at-law and the Lead and Representative of the Italian Chapter of the Creative Commons Global Network, Deborah De Angelis. Deborah is a legal expert in copyright law, entertainment law and new technologies. She also worked as legal advisor on copyright law to the previous Italian…