Although the Creative Commons launched last May 16, it has just released version 1.0 of its licensing project. This is a web interface allowing you to click some options and generate a license in bulletproof legalese that reserves the rights you selected and otherwise allows maximum sharing, copying, and use by the public. The licenses are free of charge. Also see today's press release.
CC has also created a license for what it calls The Founders' Copyright, under which the copyright holder agrees to assign the work to the public domain after only 14 years, the copyright term in effect in 1790 that reflects the framers' sense of the right balance between the temporary monopoly of copyright and the public domain. (Today's copyright term in the U.S. is the life of the author plus 70 years.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/16/2002 11:20:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
