31/10/2007

The Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET), through the E-business Forum and in collaboration with the non-profit organisation 'Creative Commons', has developed and distributed Greek versions of Creative Commons intellectual property protection licences to Greek creators. The Greek versions of the licences were created following public consultation and, to mark their launch, a special event was held at the University of Athens, with Professor Lawrence Lessig, instigator of the innovative concept, as a guest.

Creative Commons licences permit the free use of a work beyond the limits of "fair use". They chiefly offer non-exclusive use of the work, the observance of formalities for allocating the relevant licences and the "marking" of works so they can be easily located using content search engines on the internet. The goal of the Creative Commons licence system is not to put an end to or abolish intellectual property, but to reposition its rules and to create a new balance between intellectual property creators, users and works, based on the principles of the worldwide web.

36 countries have already adapted the Creative Commons licences to their legal frameworks and made them available to creators, while more and more countries are in the process of adapting them to their own legal orders.

The source of inspiration for the creation of the Creative Commons were the words of the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson: "He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me". >From this idea, namely that the value of an idea is not lessened when several people make use of it, law professor Lawrence Lessig took the central concept for the Creative Commons. Lawrence Lessig formulated the extremely widespread realisation that the best use of intellectual rights or the dissemination of the work of creators occurs in today's digital age most successfully when part of the ownership rights of creators are ceded to the benefit of users or other creators. The large-scale dissemination of specific types of work or the application of specific operational models occurs in the digital world through the distribution of the power to reproduce, alter or distribute the work.

It is therefore considered necessary for the terms and conditions for the distribution of the rights of the creator to be expressed in a clear, explicit manner, laid down in a contractual framework. Creative Commons licences lay down this contractual framework. The e-business Forum working group Ι3, which undertook a comparative study of the application of Creative Commons licences and GPL & LGPL freeware licences in European Union countries and in Greece, shaped the content of Creative Commons licences in terms of Greek legislation, taking into consideration the content of the corresponding original US licences, the basis for legalisation and also the aim of their original creation.

Creative Commons licences are offered free of charge through the internet. They are not exclusive, in the sense that the creator and/or owner of the intellectual property rights retains the right to permit uses of his work differentiated either with regard to licences or to the persons who are bound by the terms of the licences in question. Through these licences, the creator and/or owner of the intellectual property rights continues to hold the rights which derive either from the ownership or from the moral right to the intellectual property and can exercise them in any way he chooses.

The Greek publication of Creative Commons licences was edited by Mr Marinos Papadopoulos and Dr Prodromos Tsiavos, under the scientific supervision of Mrs Kallinikou, Professor at the Athens College of Law, and the coordination of Mr Theodoros Karounos within the framework of e-Business Forum working group Ι3. The editors of the licence took into account the comments by Alexios Zavras, Catharina Maracke and Paul Keller, as well as all the volunteers who participated in the meetings of e-Business Forum working group Ι3.

Source: e-Business Forum