Development of Creative Commons licenses

["Johan Carlström" <johan.carlstrom AT raa.se>]

Hi

My first post on the list. :) Great work with the PD mark! I have a
question though; is the PDmark meant for works (for instance old
photographs) or can I use it to show that metadata (for instance the
metadata that describes the photo) is free/public domain?

Thanks in advance

Johan Carlström
Swedish National Heritage Board



>>> Diane Peters <diane AT creativecommons.org> 2010-10-12 23:47 >>>
[Apologies for the cross-post]

Hi everyone,

We're pleased to announce
<http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/23830> the
launch of the Public
<http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/>
<http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/>
Domain <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/>
<http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/>
Mark <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/>.  Please see
the
press release attached, and pasted below.  We are delighted to have
Europeana as a major, early adopter of the mark.  Their adoption is
expected
to result in millions of out-of-copyright works being tagged with the
Public
 Domain Mark by mid- 2011.

Europeana and CC (through our CTO, Nathan Yergler) will be announcing
the
adoption at the *Europeana Open Culture**2010 **Conference*, being held
this
week in Amsterdam, as well as publication of the public domain Usage
Guide<http://www.europeana.eu/rights/pd-usage-guide/>.


This newest CC tool has required the efforts by many, including all of
you.
 We owe you all a sincere thanks for offering comments during the
development cycle.  Its progression has been the subject of many
policy,
design and technical discussions at multiple levels.  One of the most
important outcomes of those discussion relates to its current,
recommended
use.  The complication that territory presents -- that a work may be in
the
public domain in one jurisdiction but not in others -- is an issue on
which
there is still more to do.  The relevant take away now is that the
Public
Domain Mark at this juncture is recommended only for use with works
that are
free of known copyright restrictions worldwide.  We have also crafted
important user-oriented notifications for the face of the deed,
including an
alert that the work marked may not actually be free of copyright
everywhere<http://wiki.creativecommons.org/PDM_FAQ#Why_might_a_free_of_copyright_restrictions_in_one_jurisdiction_not_be_free_of_copyright_restrictions_everywhere.3F>.


We have already started planning for next phases of work in this area
and
others -- look for more announcements soon.

A final note about CC0.  As you may know from the public discussion
threads,
we took this opportunity to revise the CC0
deed<http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/> to
align it more closely with our new Public Domain Deed. This helps
everyone
recognize the difference between our licenses, which apply to works
restricted by copyright, and our public domain tools.  One of the new
features that both the CC0 and PDM deeds have in common is easy
copy/paste
html that allows for ready citation of the marked work.  We look
forward to
seeing that feature used with frequency to give authors of works in
the
public domain the credit they are due.

Don't hesitate to let us know if you have any questions.  Thanks again
for
your ongoing support on this important work.

Best,
Diane


*CREATIVE COMMONS LAUNCHES PUBLIC DOMAIN MARK; EUROPEANA AND CULTURAL
HERITAGE INSTITUTIONS LEAD EARLY ADOPTION*

*San Francisco, California, USA; The Hague, Netherlands — 11 October
2010*

Today, Creative Commons announces the release of the Public Domain
Mark<http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/>,
a tool that enables works free of known copyright restrictions to be
labeled
in a way that clearly communicates that status to the public, and
allows the
works to be easily discovered over the Internet.  The Public Domain
Mark effectively
increases the value of the public domainby making works that are
already
free of copyright readily accessible to the public. TheMark makes it
clear
to teachers and students, artists and scientists, that they are free
to
re-use material. Its release benefits everyone who wishes to build upon
the
rich and vast resources that are part of the shared public domain.

Europeana – Europe’s digital library, museum and archive – is the
first
major adopter of thePublic Domain Mark. The tool will become the
standard
mark for works free of known copyright that are shared via the
Europeana
portal <http://www.europeana.eu/portal/>, playing an important
infrastructur
al role in the EU’s efforts to ensure that all works shared online
are
marked with rights information.  Europeana, whose partners include the
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, theBibliothèque nationale de France and
Germany’s
Bundesarchiv (Federal archives),estimates that the millions of
out-of-copyright works made accessible via its searchable database will
be
labelled with the Public Domain Mark by Spring 2011. Europeana will
announce the
adoption of the Public Domain Mark at the upcoming *Europeana Open
Culture**
2010 **Conference*, to be held 14-15 October in Amsterdam.

"The Public Domain Mark is a further step on the path towards making
the
promise of a digital public domain a reality," said Michael Carroll, a
founding board member of Creative Commons and a law professor at
American
University.  "Marking and tagging works with information about their
copyright status is essential. Computers must be able to parse
thepublic
domain status of works to communicate its usefulness to the public. 
The
metadata standard underpinning the Public Domain Mark and all of CC's
licensing and legal tools arewhat makes this possible."

"An important part of our mandate is to ensure that digitized works
made
available through Europeana are properly labelled with rights
information,
including when a work is free of known copyright restrictions so that
teachers, students and others can freely use it in their work, changing
it
and remixing it as they wish," noted Jill Cousins, Executive Director
of
Europeana. "The legal and technical rigour applied by Creative Commons
throughout the development process makes the Public Domain Mark the
natural
choice for Europeana's infrastructure.  We have also worked with
Creative
Commons and our content providers to develop a Usage
Guide<http://www.europeana.eu/rights/pd-usage-guide/>
 for public domain works to help users of cultural content use it
responsibly – by crediting the provider, among other things."

The Public Domain Mark in its current form is intended for use with
works
that are free of known copyright around the world, primarily old works
that
are beyond the reach of copyright in all jurisdictions.  Creative
Commons is
mapping the next phases of its publicdomain work, which will look at
ways to
identify and mark works that are in the publicdomain in a limited
number of
countries.



Creative Commons worked closely with Europeana and several of its
members
throughout the development of the Public Domain Mark.  That process
also
included a publicconsultation period and review by CC’s worldwide
affiliate
network comprised of legal experts from more than 70 jurisdictions.
The
Public Domain Mark, to be used for marking works already free of
copyright,
complements Creative Commons’ CC0 public
domaindedication<http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>,
which provides an easy and reliable way for adding new works to the
public
domain prior to the expiry of copyright.


More information about the Public Domain Mark can be found on the
Creative
Commons website <http://creativecommons.org/public_domain>.