CREATIVE COMMONS TO LAUNCH - Creative Commons, a source of online
intellectual-property licenses will allow copyright owners to codify how their works can
be used. Existing copyright rules have long been accused of being too rigid, hampering
innovation, technological progress and economic growth. Creative Commons, which will
be launched in a few months, would restore more control to creative individuals. In the
new Creative Commons environment, artists, programmers and others will select the
most suitable options, which will then be incorporated into free customized licenses.
In addition, a conservancy of technical resources will be hosted that will aim to save
in the area of intellectual property and allow for user sharing. This new process could
also have an effect on participation in open-source software initiatives by supplying
access to more reliable legal safeguards. Creative Commons is the collaborative venture
of MIT, Harvard, Duke University and Villanova. (San Francisco Chronicle Online, 11
Feb 02)

NEW DIGITAL COPYRIGHT LISTSERV - To meet the developing application of
copyright laws in the online environment, The Center for Intellectual Property announces
the new listserv DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT, a discussion group that provides a forum for
the analysis of topics such as copyright law and policy, technologies and federal
information law and policies that impact higher education, particularly digital distance
education. In addition to ongoing discussions of critical and theoretical issues, the list
will contain: postings on upcoming conferences, calls for papers, legislative news
announcements and many other matters which should be of interest. The listserv is a
space for educators, policy makers, librarians, lawyers and all who have a vested
interest in digital copyright and other intellectual property matters. It encourages all
levels of discourse, as well as relevant political, historical, cultural and philosophical
approaches to the problem of applying copyright to the digital arena. To subscribe to
DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT send a message to: listproc@listserv.umuc.edu Leave the
subject line blank. For a hypothetical person named Sally Smith, the body of the
message would read: subscribe digital-copyright Sally Smith. To send a message to the
list, the address is: digital-copyright@listserv.umuc.edu