Creative Commons Copyright Licences Launch in South Africa - PRESS RELEASE
San Francisco, USA, and Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA, May 27, 2005 - Creative Commons, a non-profit organization that offers free copyright licenses and tools to creators to make their works available on more flexible terms, today unveiled a localized version of its innovative licensing system in South Africa.
With South Africa offering Creative Commons licenses tailored for the specifics of the legal system in South Africa, Creative Commons licenses and tools are now available a total of 18 jurisdictions. The organization already provides copyright licenses specific to Australian, Austrian, Brazilian, Belgian, Canadian, Croatian, Dutch, English & Welsh, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, U.S., Taiwanese and Spanish law, thanks to a global network of artists, lawyers, and technologists.
Staff at Creative Common’s offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with Project Leads Heather Ford and Andrew Rens as well as the LINK Centre at the University of Witwatersrand to adapt the standardized licenses for use in South Africa. The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) supported by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa) played an important role in raising awareness around Creative Commons as well as supporting the lengthy consultation process with local legal practitioners, academics and civil society organizations in the months leading up to the launch.
The ccSA licenses went live at a local Johannesburg event addressed by Creative Commons CEO & Chairman, Lawrence Lessig, local band, 340ml and an interactive display of local Creative Commons licensees. With 11 official languages in the country, the South African human-readable code has been initially translated into Afrikaans and Southern Sotho with more translations planned for later this year.
Rens, a former Wits University law lecturer, has been involved for the past 12 months on developing the legal code for the licence. Ford joined Creative Commons during her fellowship with the Reuters Digital Vision Programme at Stanford University and returned to Johannesburg last year to coordinate Creative Commons projects in the region.
Said Ford, “We’ve been working with local communities for almost a year on incorporating cc licenses into their policies so it’s been a real treat to see the surge in momentum around the official launch of Creative Commons South Africa. We’ve been able to celebrate and share stories of the local pioneers and their communities who have benefited from using Creative Commons tools as more people are recognizing the importance of providing legally-enforceable mechanisms for sharing content. It’s a first for Africa, and we think that there is enough practical evidence of local success to see this movement growing regionally.”
The launch of the South African Creative Commons licenses occurred in conjunction with a conference sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) entitled “Commons Sense: Towards an African Digital Information Commons.” Around 150 people from around Africa and the world gathered together in Johannesburg to discuss the concept of an “African Digital Commons” and the role of Creative Commons and other open content projects in stimulating its growth and success. Creative Commons CEO & Chairman, Lawrence Lessig presented at the conference on the topic of the “Global Momentum towards the Commons.” Project leads from Creative Commons Brazil, Ronaldo Lemos, and Creative Commons India, Lawrence Liang, also presented on the topic of “Open Content for the Developing World.”
According to Ford, “This conference was a one step towards developing a practical, working knowledge of how authors, artists, librarians, musicians, educators, governments, civil society, academics and journalists can contribute towards the emergence of a Digital Information Commons in Africa. It made us realize how vibrant the African open content landscape is, and how important it is for us to synergise our efforts. Creative Commons is a perfect tool for gathering together the threads and coordinating a vision of Africa’s valuable contribution to the Commons. We believe that this is just the beginning of some of Creative Commons’ most critical successes for the developing world.”
About the LINK Centre
The LINK Centre is the leading research and training body in the field of information and communications technology (ICT) policy, regulation and management in Southern Africa.
LINK focuses on capacity building in the public sector and development arenas through quality training, applied research and consultancy services necessary to maximize the benefits of the Information Society and the Knowledge Economy. In addition to hosting the South African chapter of Creative Commons, LINK is a founding partner in Research ICT Africa!
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.
Contacts
Andrew Rens (San Francisco)
Legal Lead
Creative Commons, South Africa
Heather Ford (Johannesburg)
Director
Creative Commons, South Africa
Neeru Paharia (San Francisco)
Executive Director
Creative Commons
Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)
Executive Director
iCommons