Creative Commons Unveils Machine-Readable Copyright Licenses

not sure if this made it the first time, sorry if it double posts
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this is some very valuable work that empowers creators to release
their work into the world on their own terms instead of the all or
nothing approach that copyright law allows. it releases creative work
into the network in a new way which provides much more freedom for
creators and viewers.


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from creativecommons.org:

Creative Commons Unveils Machine-Readable Copyright Licenses

Monday, December 16, 2002

San Francisco, CA - Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to
promoting the creative reuse of intellectual works, launched its
first product today: its machine-readable copyright licenses,
available free of charge from creativecommons.org. The licenses allow
copyright holders to easily inform others that their works are free
for copying and other uses under specific conditions. These self-help
tools offer new ways to distribute creative works on generous terms -
from copyright to the public domain - and are available free of
charge.

"People want to bridge the public domain with the realm of private
copyrights," said Stanford Law Professor and Creative Commons
Chairman Lawrence Lessig. "Our licenses build upon their creativity,
taking the power of digital rights description to a new level. They
deliver on our vision of promoting the innovative reuse of all types
of intellectual works, unlocking the potential of sharing and
transforming others' work."

Creative Commons licenses help people express a preference for
sharing their work - on their own terms. Copyright holders who decide
to waive some of their rights but retain others can choose a license
that declares "Some Rights Reserved" by expressing whether they
require attribution or allow commercial usage or modifications to
their work. Additionally copyright holders may select to waive all
their rights and declare "No Rights Reserved" by dedicating their
work to the public domain. After the copyright holder chooses their
license or public domain dedication, it is expressed in three formats
to easily notify others of the license terms:

1. Commons Deed. A simple, plain-language summary of the license,
with corresponding icons.

2. Legal Code. The fine print needed to fine-tune your copyrights.

3. Digital Code. A machine-readable translation of the license that
helps search engines and other applications identify your work by its
terms of use.

"Our model was inspired in large part by the open-source and free
software movements. The beauty of their approach is that they're
based on copyright owners' consent - independent of any legislative
action - and motivated out of a wonderful mixture of self-interest
and community spirit," explained Creative Commons Executive Director
Glenn Otis Brown. "One of the great lessons of these software
movements is that the choice between self-interest and community is a
false choice. If you're clever about how you leverage your rights,
you can cash in on openness. Sharing, done properly, is both smart
and right."

Various organizations and people have pledged their support for
Creative Commons, including Byrds founder Roger McGuinn, DJ Spooky,
iBiblio, the Internet Archive, MIT Open Courseware project, O'Reilly
& Associates, People Like Us, the Prelinger Collection/Library of
Congress, Rice University's Connexions project, Stanford Law School,
and Sun Microsystems. Implementers include musicians, writers,
teachers, scholars, scientists, photographers, filmmakers,
publishers, graphic designers, Web hobbyists, as well as listeners,
readers, and viewers.

Copyright holders can choose the appropriate license for their
digital content at http://creativecommons.org/license/. Additional
information is available through the technical fact sheet and
testimonials document.

Behind Creative Commons

Cyberlaw and intellectual property experts James Boyle, Michael
Carroll, Lawrence Lessig, and Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, MIT
computer science professor Hal Abelson, lawyer-turned-documentary
filmmaker-turned-cyberlaw expert Eric Saltzman, and public domain Web
publisher Eric Eldred founded Creative Commons in 2001. Fellows and
students at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law
School helped get the project off the ground. A non-profit
corporation, Creative Commons is based at and receives generous
support from Stanford Law School and the school's Center for Internet
and Society. Learn more.

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