Creative Commons offers new tools
Posted on 24 March 2009 by Thomasin
With Creative Commons licences it's always been a bit tricky to give away content or declare it out of copyright. Creative Commons licences rely on provisions in copyright law that firmly fix the licence to the copyright owner. But what if you don't want to remain the copyright owner, and what if your content is not in copyright? The Creative Commons is on to it, and will offer new tools for exactly these circumstances.
Released earlier this month is a 'CC0' (CC Zero) Universal tool, which allows content creators and owners to unconditionally waive their rights on copyright for their works. A legal waiver rather than a licence, it aims to help cultivate a rich pool of freely available content for anyone to use for any purpose. Its wording is designed to be applicable worldwide for any content without having to be adapted to local laws. The waiver can be found here.
Creative Commons is also working on updating its currently U.S.-centric public domain dedication and certification. The current dedication relies on U.S. law which may not be applicable in countries such as New Zealand. The updated version will focus solely on the certification of content that is already in the public domain i.e. not covered by copyright. This should be able to be ported to a New Zealand certification, and will be useful for anyone wanting to share content that they can verify is not in copyright, and which can't be given a copyright licence.
The announcement and more details can be found on the Creative Commons blog. The New Zealand Creative Commons website is www.creativecommons.org.nz .
Would you consider using the CC0 licence for content you produce in order to give it away? Have you struck problems with putting licences on content that you know is not in copyright? Share your views with us!
We've turned off comments here, but we'd still love to know your thoughts. Visit us on our Facebook Page @digitalnz or on Twitter @DigitalNZ to share any ideas or musings with the DigitalNZ team.