«Creative Commons» Introduction and Armenian Reality Movses Hakobyan

Project Director Center for Information Law and Policy Yerevan, Armenia

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Creative Commons Project in Armenia

 Support to the Adoption of Creative Commons Licensing Framework in the Countries of South Caucasus.

- Since July 2008 with support of

Eurasia Partnership Foundation

-

Internews’ Center for Information Law and Policy

(Project implementer) 2

Creative Commons, Inc.



Creative Commons

is a Massachusetts-chartered tax exempt charitable corporation.

For more information, see http://creativecommons.org

 Founded in 2001 with the generous support of the several renowned organizations.  One of the founders is Stanford law professor

Lessig.

Lawrence

 December 2002 - first release of a set of Copyright Licenses free for public use.

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Alternative to Traditional Copyright Licensing

 Inspiration by GNU General Public License (GNU GPL)  D evelopment of a Web application for Licensing as a tool for:   Dedication to public domain , or retaining copyright while licensing them as free for certain uses, on certain conditions.

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CC License Conditions



Attribution

. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request. 

Noncommercial

. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only.



No Derivative Works

. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, — not derivative works based upon it. 

Share Alike

. You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

Note

: The Share Alike requirement applies only to derivative works. 

Mixing and matching these conditions may produce possible combinations

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Creative Commons Spectrum

 © - All rights reserved ,  PD - Public Domain,  Creative Commons (CC) – some rights reserved.

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Protected Works under CC

 Websites,  Scholarship,  Music, Film, Photography,  Literature,  Courseware, etc.

Exceptions and Limitations

 Fair use or fair dealing  Facts and ideas 7

Completed Licenses



Creative Commons licenses, now ported to 47 jurisdictions

linguistically translated and legally adapted to particular jurisdictions) ( licenses

- UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Finland, Poland, Malta, Macedonia, China, India, USA, Israel, Canada, New Zealand, S. Africa, S. Korea, Japan etc.

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CC Porting Still in Progress



The process of developing licenses are still in progress for the 8 jurisdictions

– Ukraine - Singapore – Guatemala – Hong-Kong – Nigeria - Thailand - Jordan - Ireland.



Newly Launched 10 Project Jurisdictions

Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Czech Republic, Egypt, Tanzania, Tunisia, Vietnam.

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1.

2.

3.

Use of CC by State and Other Bodies

Armenia

- Official website of the Armenian President. CC License BY-ND 3.0 Unported. http://www.president.am/president/cover/eng/

Spain

- Ministry of Justice of the Government of Catalonia http

://

www.gencat.cat

/ Australia

– Government, Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. http://www.innovation.gov.au/innovationreview/Pages/ho me.aspx

- National Library of Australia - Open Access http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/cdp/ Sydney's Powerhouse Museum http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/imageservices/ 10

Use of CC by State and Other Bodies

4.

Mexico -

President Felipe Calderon Official Website http://www.presidencia.gob.mx

- National Sports Commission http://www.conade.gob.mx

5.

Netherlands

Creative Commons Licensing for the Public Sector

6.

OECD

(Ogranization for Economic Co-operation and Development) http://thepublicvoice.org/events/seoul08/seoul-declaration.pdf

7.

Colombia -

Official website of the Colombian Biodiversity Information System depending from the Ministry of Environment. http://www.siac.net.co/Home.php?opc=2 11

Legal Obstacles for CC Generic License “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0”

1.

Due Form of License 2.

License Nature 3.

Dedication to Public Domain 4.

Right to Withdrawal (Moral Right),

5.

Representations and Warranties

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1. Due Form of License (Legal Obstacles)



Law on Copyright

, Article 40 (8) - prescribes obligatory written form for license contracts (agreements) 

Civil Code

, Article 450 (2) - contracts might have facsimile or electronic form only if it is possible to exactly identify the signatory party whether as an offeror or acceptor.

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1. Due Form of License (Legal Obstacles)



Law on E-Document and Digital Signature

Article 4 - protected e-document implies presence of one or several electronic signatures.

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2. License Nature (Legal Obstacles)



Copyright Law

, Article 39 (2), license contract shall be compensative. 

Civil Code

, Article 305-Invalidity of a Transaction not Corresponding to the Requirements of a Statute or to other Legal Acts.

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2. License Nature (Legal Obstacles)



Copyright Law

, Article 13 - contract on waiving the authors’ remuneration shall be null and void.

 Compensative nature of copyright contract vs. “

Freedom of Contract

” (Civil Code) and

Free disposal of own property

(Constitution).

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3. Dedication to Public Domain (Legal Obstacles)



Mechanism is absent in Armenian Legislation.

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4. Right to Withdrawal

(Legal Obstacles)

 Rights to Withdrawal and Revocation are protected under Armenian legislation.

 On the other hand, CC licenses are non revocable.

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5. Representations and Warranties

(Legal Obstacles)

 Implied warranties shall be reinforced in clause 5 of CC License.

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THANK YOU Movses Hakobyan

Project Director Center for Information Law and Policy [email protected]

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