“You’re making a movie and
need still images. You’re starting out as a photographer and want to spread
the word. You’re teaching a course and need materials. You’ve written an
article and you want people to analyze it. You’re building a website and
need graphics. You’re a digital artist who wants to collaborate with other
artists. You’re performing a concert and need a symphony. You’ve composed
a symphony and want people to perform it.

Creative
Commons is a non-profit organization founded on the notion that some people
would prefer to share their creative works (and the power to copy, modify,
and distribute their works) instead of exercising all of the restrictions
of copyright law.

Our initial goal is to provide
an easy way for people (like scholars, musicians, filmmakers, and authors–from
world-renowned professionals to garage-based amateurs) to announce that
their works are available for copying, modification, and redistribution.
We are building a Web-based application for dedicating copyrighted works
to the “public domain,” and for generating flexible, generous licenses
that permit copying and creative reuses of copyrighted works.

We want to make it easy for
people to find works that are in the public domain or licensed on generous
terms. We are developing a method for labeling such works with metadata
that identify their terms of use. Potential users could then search for
works (say, photos of the Empire State Building) based on the permitted
uses (say, noncommercial copying and redistribution).”

THANKS TO IAN ROGERS!