Showing posts with label Creative Commons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creative Commons. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

ARE THE CREATIVE COMMONS PUBLIC DOMAIN TOOLS FIT-FOR-PURPOSE IN THE CULTURAL HERITAGE SECTOR?; Creative Commons, February 23, 2023

Creative Commons; ARE THE CREATIVE COMMONS PUBLIC DOMAIN TOOLS FIT-FOR-PURPOSE IN THE CULTURAL HERITAGE SECTOR?

A Creative Commons Needs Assessment Report

"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

To obtain a clearer picture of the use and understanding of Creative Commonsʼ (CC) public domain tools in the cultural heritage sector, in light of the diverse barriersfacing cultural heritage institutions (CHIs) in opening up their collections, we performed a needs assessment with a view to developing a set of recommendations to ensure CCʼs tools continue to be relevant and meet the sectorʼs needs. From 1 January (Public Domain Day2) to 15 February 2022, we ran a multilingual online survey using Google Forms to share a 50-question questionnaire in English, French and Spanish.

With hundreds of responses to 50 questions, our survey provides us with ample information. While it is beyond the scope of this brief report to provide in-depth analysis of all the results, we highlight key findings that hold the potential to inform our community about the state of open culture and the role that CC public domain tools might play in supporting it. Hereʼs a brief summary of key findings:"

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Open COVID Pledge: Removing Obstacles to Sharing IP in the Fight Against COVID-19; Creative Commons, April 7, 2020

Diane Peters, Creative Commons; Open COVID Pledge: Removing Obstacles to Sharing IP in the Fight Against COVID-19

"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 public free, temporary access to IP rights in support of solving the COVID-19 crisis, removing unnecessary obstacles to dissemination of the knowledge and inventions that could save lives and limit suffering."

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Video and audio from my closing keynote at Friday's Grand Re-Opening of the Public Domain; BoingBoing, January 27, 2019

Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing; Video and audio from my closing keynote at Friday's Grand Re-Opening of the Public Domain

"On Friday, hundreds of us gathered at the Internet Archive, at the invitation of Creative Commons, to celebrate the Grand Re-Opening of the Public Domain, just weeks after the first works entered the American public domain in twenty years.
 

I had the honor of delivering the closing keynote, after a roster of astounding speakers. It was a big challenge and I was pretty nervous, but on reviewing the saved livestream, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

Proud enough that I've ripped the audio and posted it to my podcast feed; the video for the keynote is on the Archive and mirrored to Youtube.

The whole event's livestream is also online, and boy do I recommend it."

Saturday, January 12, 2019

A Grand Re-Opening of the Public Domain by Internet Archive and Creative Commons: January 25, 2019

A Grand Re-Opening of the Public Domain

 
 
"Description 

Please join us on Friday, January 25, 2019 for a grand day celebrating the public domain!
Co-hosted by the Internet Archive and Creative Commons, this celebration will feature a keynote addresses by Lawrence Lessig and Cory Doctorow, lightning talks, demos, multimedia displays and more to mark the “re-opening” of the public domain in the United States. The event will take place at the Internet Archive in San Francisco.

Schedule of Events:

10am: Doors & Registration
10-11:45: Interactive public domain demos and project stations with organizations including Creative Commons, Internet Archive, Wikipedia, Authors Alliance, Electronic Frontier Foundation, California Digital Library, Center for the Study of the Public Domain, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Cleveland Art Museum, and many more!
11:45-1pm: Lunch on your own in the Richmond District
1pm-6pm: Program of keynote speakers, lightning talks and panels highlighting the value and importance of the public domain
6pm-7:30pm: Reception

Speakers/Panelists Include:

Lawrence Lessig - Harvard Law Professor
Cory Doctorow - Author & Co-editor, Boing-Boing
Pam Samuelson - Berkeley Law Professor
Paul Soulellis - Artist & Rhode Island School of Design Professor
Jamie Boyle - Duke Law Professor & Founder, Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Brewster Kahle - Founder & Digital Librarian, Internet Archive
Corynne McSherry - Legal Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Ryan Merkley - CEO, Creative Commons
Jennifer Urban - Berkeley Law Professor
Joseph C. Gratz - Partner, Durie Tangri
Jane Park - Director of Product and Research, Creative Commons
Cheyenne Hohman - Director, Free Music Archive
Ben Vershbow - Director, Community Programs, Wikimedia
Jennifer Jenkins - Director, Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Rick Prelinger - Founder, Prelinger Archives
Amy Mason - LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Paul Keller - Communia Association
Michael Wolfe - Duke Lecturing Fellow, Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Daniel Schacht - Co-chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group, Donahue Fitzgerald LLP"

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

All Rights Reserved, A Copyright Relic; Above The Law, October 11, 2018

Krista L. Cox, Above The Law;

All Rights Reserved, A Copyright Relic

This language is no longer necessary for copyright. And yet, it persists.


"PSA: The phrase “All Rights Reserved” isn’t necessary today, but it does have historical origins.

In order to understand why “All Rights Reserved” isn’t legally necessary for copyright protection, it’s important to remember that the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works — which has 176 contracting parties — did away with formalities. The Berne Convention, which sets minimum standards for protections, provides automatic copyright protection — that is, copyright exists from the moment of creation and is not dependent on registration or notice. While formalities, like registration, might still be required in order to obtain certain remedies (for example, statutory damages in the United States), the existence of copyright is not dependent on such formalities. While notice is no longer required for works created today, it can still serve a useful purpose, for example, to provide information to users that the work is indeed under copyright protection and provide evidence in a copyright infringement case. “All Rights Reserved,” however, is more of an historical remnant."

Thursday, August 17, 2017

With ‘Open Access,’ the Met Museum’s Digital Operation Has a Bona Fide Hit on Its Hands; artnetnews, August 10, 2017

Sarah Cascone, artnetnews; With ‘Open Access,’ the Met Museum’s Digital Operation Has a Bona Fide Hit on Its Hands

"In February, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it was pursuing a new Open Access policy—releasing high-resolution imagery of all its public-domain works (over 375,000 in total). Six months later, the new initiative has had a major impact on sites such as Wikimedia and Creative Commons, and the museum is continuing to branch out. This week, the Met announced a partnership with Google’s data analytics platform, BigQuery.

“During what is just the dawn of this new initiative, the responses so far have been incredible,” wrote Loic Tallon, the museum’s chief digital officer, in a blog post.

The numbers speak for themselves. According to Tallon, the Met’s website has seen a 64 percent increase in image downloads since Open Access was implemented, as well as a 17 percent bump in traffic to the online collection. Users who download photographs are now spending five times as long on the site."

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Creative Commons' annual State of the Commons Report, May 23, 2017

Ryan Merkley, Creative Commons; Welcome to Creative Commons' annual celebration of the global commons movement—our State of the Commons report.

"SOTC explores the wide array of creativity and knowledge that is freely available to the world under CC licenses. Throughout the report, we’ll show how the body of work in the commons has grown and developed this year, and explore the impact the commons is making on our culture.
In previous editions of SOTC, we've focused our efforts on measuring and reporting quantitative data—for instance, the total number of openly-licensed works online, the percentage of CC licenses used across various fields, and the volume of CC-licensed works that are available to the public through the many online sharing platforms where our legal tools are prevalent. That data is still here, but this year we’ve gone further: CC's new organizational strategy is focused on increasing the vibrancy and usability of the commons (not just its breadth and volume), so we’re focusing on the stories and people behind the creativity in the commons as well."

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Kaskade's Free Music: Beer, or Speech? A Look at Sampling, Creative Commons and Copyright (Op-Ed); Billboard, 7/1/14

Steve Martocci, Billboard; Kaskade's Free Music: Beer, or Speech? A Look at Sampling, Creative Commons and Copyright (Op-Ed) :
"While Kaskade's "Ain't Gotta Lie" stems are free, Kaskade still owns the stems under the Copyright Law and can choose to enforce his rights at any time, potentially rendering all of the stem users liable for infringement.
"Free as in free speech" implies liberty and freedom from restrictions. With free software, you're encouraged to contribute to the source code, to modify, improve and redistribute it. These actions are usually prohibited by copyright law, but the rights-holder is able to remove these restrictions by accompanying the software with a license (like GNU, MIT or Apache). Open source software is possible because of licenses like this.
Similar to software developers, music creators continually borrow, mix, and enhance each other's sounds. Evolution in music comes from continual experimentation and inspiration from the past and present.
Producer Mark Ronson recently said in a TED Talk, "The dam has burst. We live in the post-sampling era. We take the things that we love and we build on them."
Ronson is right. We live in a thriving remix culture where the creation of derivative work is inevitable. Consumers obtain and re-distribute copyrighted material illegitimately all the time. It's become ubiquitous. Activist Lawrence Lessig, pioneer of Creative Commons and author of "Remix," asserts "outdated copyright laws have turned our children into criminals."...
Kaskade closes his manifesto with an aspirational declaration: "Free the music, and your cash will follow." Artists that want to advance an open source future for music need to reconsider their definition of free. Releasing stems free of charge isn't enough. To protect creators, the stems need to be freed from restrictions by choosing a Creative Commons license.
So Kaskade...how can we use these stems? Are they free as in beer or free as in free speech?"

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

FYI: Free Online Webinar Wed. Afternoon Oct. 30th: Copyright & Accessibility for Uploaded, Downloaded, Using Videos- esp. YouTube, October 30, 2013 3:00 PM EDT

FYI: "Free Online Webinar Wed. Afternoon Oct. 30th: Copyright & Accessibility for Uploaded, Downloaded, Using Videos- esp. YouTube, October 30, 2013 3:00 PM EDT Members Exchange: Copyright & Accessibility for Uploaded, Downloaded, Using Videos- esp. YouTube, October 30, 2013 3:00 PM EDT Bookmark and Share Members Exchange: Copyright & Accessibility for Uploaded, Downloaded, Using Videos- esp. YouTube October 30, 2013 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern Time Leaders: Steve Gilbert and others Copyright for uploaded videos: Creative Commons, YouTube Accessibility for Videos: Captions, Tags, Transcription Accessibility: Google/YouTube This session is free to TLT Group Individual Members, to TOL4B registrants and planners. Don't forget to use the email address where you received this message as your username and login password when you come to the session. All of the TLT Group’s online offerings include use of “low threshold” tools, examination of controversial issues, options for participants with a range of experience, and suggestions for assessment as you integrate what you’ve learned into your repertoire. More information and online registration: Members Exchange: Copyright & Accessibility for Uploaded, Downloaded, Using Videos- esp. YouTube, October 30"

Saturday, June 26, 2010

ASCAP Assails Free-Culture, Digital-Rights Groups; Wired.com, 6/25/10

David Kravets, Wired.com; ASCAP Assails Free-Culture, Digital-Rights Groups:

"The association representing 380,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and others associated with the music industry has begun a fund-raising campaign to stifle groups that support free culture and digital rights.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is urging the membership to donate money to battle the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and even Creative Commons.

In a letter sent to members this week, ASCAP said those groups and unnamed “technology companies” are “mobilizing to promote ‘Copyleft’ in order to undermine our ‘Copyright.’ ”

The letter continues, saying “the truth is these groups simply do not want to pay for the use of our music. Their mission is to spread the word that our music should be free.”

The fund-raising campaign came a day after Victoria Espinel, the nation’s copyright czar, outlined an intellectual-property enforcement plan that did not include a call to push internet service providers to adopt policies to cut service to repeat copyright scofflaws. Such a policy, referred to as “three strikes” or “graduated response,” was strongly backed by the motion picture and recording industries, and opposed by EFF and Public Knowledge.

Instead, Espinel said the nation’s “intellectual property-enforcement efforts should be focused on stopping those stealing the work of others, not those who are appropriately building upon it.”

The ASCAP, which also distributes royalties, said those groups are “influencing Congress against the interests of music creators. If their views are allowed to gain strength, music creators will find it harder and harder to make a living as traditional media shifts to online and wireless services. We all know what will happen next: the music will dry up, and the ultimate loser will be the music consumer.”

ASCAP did not return messages seeking comment.

ASCAP’s attack on EFF and Public Knowledge are farfetched. Those groups do not suggest music should be free, although they push for the liberalization of copyright law.

But the attack on Creative Commons is more laughable than ASCAP’s stance against EFF and Public Knowledge.

While lobby groups EFF and Public Knowledge advocate for liberal copyright laws, Creative Commons actually creates licenses to protect content creators.

The non-profit has issued various licenses to approximately 350 million pieces of content to writers, musicians, scholars and others. Flickr, for example, is filled with pictures licensed by Creative Commons.

The licenses allow the works in the public domain, with various rules regarding attribution, commercial use and remixing.

The group’s creative director, Eric Steuer, said nobody forces anybody to adopt the Creative Commons credo. “I think it’s false to claim that Creative Commons works to undermine copyright,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s an opt-in system.”

Following Wednesday’s fund-raising letter from Paul Williams, ASCAP’s president, Steuer said several ASCAP members who also use Creative Commons licenses have donated money to Creative Commons."

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/ascap-assails-free-culture-digital-rights-groups/#ixzz0s13zbKVN"

Friday, May 8, 2009

Lawrence Lessig responds to Mark Helprin's argument; Podcast [9 min. 49 sec.] via NPR's All Things Considered, 4/26/09

Podcast [9 min. 49 sec.] via NPR's All Things Considered; Lawrence Lessig responds to Mark Helprin's argument:

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=103508516&m=103505647

'Digital Barbarism' Wages Online Copyright Battle; Podcast [7 min. 34 sec.] via NPR's All Things Considered, 4/26/09

Pocast [7 in. 34 sec.] via NPR's All Things Considered; 'Digital Barbarism' Wages Online Copyright Battle:

"Author Mark Helprin wrote the novels A Soldier of the Great War and Winter's Tale. And two years ago, he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times that inspired a huge online backlash [see A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn’t Its Copyright?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/opinion/20helprin.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all.]

In the op-ed, Helprin argued that the term for copyright protection should be extended to protect the author's individual voice from the pressures of the digital age. For his boldness, he faced the digital wrath of those who feel the term of copyright protection should be reduced or eliminated altogether.

He's responded to the backlash in the form of a book, Digital Barbarism: A Writer's Manifesto.

One of the most prominent opponents to Helprin's idea to extend copyright has been Lawrence Lessig. He's a professor of law at Stanford University and the founder of Creative Commons, a system that allows creators to opt out of certain copyright protections.

Unlike Helprin, Lessig believes in the power of group collaboration to build ideas. So instead of writing a response himself, he created a wiki and asked his followers to work together to write it [see http://wiki.lessig.org/index.php/Against_perpetual_copyright].

He says that he understands Helprin's concerns about intellectual work being altered, but that as a published author, it comes with the territory."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103508516

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

When Pixels Find New Life on Real Paper; The New York Times, 4/20/09

Via The New York Times; When Pixels Find New Life on Real Paper:

"One trick in transferring the material from online to print has been how to recreate the “title text” that comments on the strip when your cursor hovers over it...

The title text will appear where the tiny copyright notice would appear on a traditional strip.

Does that mean that the book won’t carry a traditional copyright and instead take its lead from the online comic strip itself, which Mr. Munroe licenses under Creative Commons, allowing noncommercial re-use as long as credit is given?

“To anyone who wants to photocopy, bind, and give a copy of the book to their loved one — more power to them,” he said. “He/She will likely be disappointed that you’re so cheap, though.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/business/media/20link.html

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Creative Commons flourishing despite rough economy, Ars Technica, 12/31/08

Via Ars Technica: Creative Commons flourishing despite rough economy:

"Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2001 by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig to encourage copyright reform and provide a legally-sound licensing framework for works that could be freely redistributed. The licenses and file metadata scheme devised by Creative Commons are increasingly popular and have been adopted by a diverse group of artists and writers ranging from the music group Nine Inch Nails to science fiction novelist Charles Stross. In the years since it was founded, Creative Commons has expanded its focus to encompass similar efforts, including a Science Commons project and an open learning initiative.

Lessig stepped down as CEO of the organization earlier this year when he announced plans to shift his focus towards broader political issues. He was replaced by Joi Ito, a Japanese entrepreneur who has close ties with silicon valley startups. "

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081231-creative-commons-flourishing-despite-rough-economy.html

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Podcast: Lawrence Lessing's 'Remix' For The Hybrid Economy, NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, 12/22/08

Podcast [37 min. 51 sec.] : Via NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross: Lawrence Lessing's 'Remix' For The Hybrid Economy:

Blurb: In his new book Remix, law professor Lawrence Lessig explores the changing landscape of intellectual property in the digital age — and argues that antiquated copyright laws should be updated.

Lessing is a columnist for Wired and the chair of Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that promotes the legal sharing, repurposing and remixing of creative work.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98591002

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Creative Commons 6th Birthday Celebration, Public Knowledge, 12/16/08

Via Public Knowledge: Creative Commons 6th Birthday Celebration:

6:30-9:00pm, Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Join D.C. Copynight for a Creative Commons 6th Birthday Celebration. Bring some CC-licensed media to share. There will be pizza, beer, CC media & swag, and good cheer—perhaps even great cheer.

Public Knowledge1875 Connecticut Ave. NWSuite 650Washington, DC 20009

RSVP at: http://cc6bdaydc.eventbrite.com/

http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1907

Friday, November 21, 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free - New York Times, 9/14/08

Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free:
"Unlike other projects that share course materials, notably OpenCourseWare at M.I.T., Connexions uses broader Creative Commons license allowing students and teachers to rewrite and edit material as long as the originator is credited. Teachers put up material, called “modules,” and then mix and match their work with others’ to create a collection of material for students. “We are changing textbook publishing from a pipeline to an ecosystem,” he said."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15link.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Free Music Downloads Without the Legal Peril - New York Times, 9/3/08

Free Music Downloads Without the Legal Peril : "It’s simple to get free music from online services like LimeWire, but it could also bring an unfriendly letter from a lawyer.

Dave Dederer feels your pain. As a songwriter and former guitarist for the Presidents of the United States of America, the owner of a record label and an Internet music entrepreneur, he is especially suited to assess the rights of artists, fans and distributors. After a close study of the laws that regulate his business, one thing is clear, he says: “It’s a swirling cesspool.”" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/technology/personaltech/04basics.html?ex=1378267200&en=5941bed8165f9d07&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink