On the 17th and 18th of march 2005 Creative Commons Nederland invites all organizations and individuals involved in the European iCommons projects for a first European Creative Commons Meeting in Amsterdam. This meeting will take place in the framework of the Creative Capital Conference that is organized on the same dates by Stichting Nederland Kennisland in collaboration with Waag Society. Nederland Kennisland and Waag Society, together with the Institute for Information Law at the University of Amsterdam, form Creative Commons Nederland. The meeting will be part of the conference but the sessions on Thursday are closed to registered participants of the meeting.
At the time of writing the Creative Commons licenses have been ported for use in nine different European jurisdictions and in a substantial number of other European Counties the efforts are well under way. Our experience with the Creative Commons Licenses and their promotion has come to suggest that there are a) substantial differences in the institutional background between the US (where the licenses originate form) and (continental) Europe and b) that some of the challenges to a wider adoption of the Creative Commons license model (such as the practices and statutory position of collective rights management societies) are very similar throughout Europe. Additionally, some important legal frameworks that shape the legal space wherein Creative Commons must operate are formed on the level of the European Union.
This situation calls for cooperation and collaboration among the individuals and organizations that back the Creative Commons Licenses in Europe. With this meeting we intend to explore in how far such a collaboration is possible, what it should focuses on and how we can shape it. During the second day of the meeting the chairman and founder of the Creative Commons project Lawrence Lessig will participate in the meeting (t.b.c). This will provide the participants to discuss the issues raised during the first day with him and to look for possibilities of integrating European experiences into the future development of the Creative Commons project.
With this first European Creative Commons meeting we hope to establish a constructive collaboration between the different national projects that in the long run will enable us to share resources and experiences, develop common projects and enables us to jointly react to policy developments on the European level. This meeting should focus on aspects of community building and the promotion of the Creative Commons Licenses in Europe. We want to avoid discussing the legal aspects of the Creative commons licenses in Europe at this point. Such a discussion could be part of a follow-up meeting.
See www.creativecapital.nl for the conference website.