A pioneer in the open domain movement and former chair of Creative Commons, James Boyle has also published a book where he details and explains the problem of the current copyright environment. The book is called “Public Domain” and appropriately enough, is available online for free under a Creative Commons license.

In his book, Boyle talks about the history of copyrighting and patents going as far back as Thomas Jefferson and his views on intellectual property. For those interested in the ideas and philosophies espoused by a site like Creative Commons should certainly take the time to read this informative book.

Conceivably, the collaborative concept behind Creative Commons is the key component to Web 2.0. Allowing users to share online property beyond the conceptual level leads to greater efficiency in the global community.  Generally, users are free to utilize the materials on Creative Commons without going through licensing hassles or violating property rights.  This is a win-win scenario for everyone.  Creators get their work exposed to the public, users find materials they need, and viewers of the new content get better content than might otherwise be possible.  And content is key.  Creative Commons, regardless of the success they ultimately achieve, has made a significant contribution to a collaborative, Web 2.0 world.  Congratulations on the collaborative concept contribution Creative Commons.

The issue of intellectual property can be a real problem amidst academic circles. People are actually very picky about who uses their ideas and how they do it. And rightfully so. But on the other hand, I know many individuals who believe in free or only slightly limited use of what they produce. For people like this, CreativeCommons.org was devised.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that allows an individual to relinquish some or all of the rights provided to them under the copyright act. They do this by issuing limited copyright licenses. We are very use to seeing the phrase “all rights reserved” printed onto things, but with creative commons, the phrase “some rights reserved” was coined from the fact that only some aspects of the information have restrictions placed on them.

Personally, I think Creative Commons is a good idea. For those people out there who wish to share their creative ideas with others, this provides a great portal for those people to do just that.

I’ve been doing some research on Creative Commons and found some remarkable things.  Wikipedia is one of the websites that has licensing through creative commons.   Wikipedia is designed to be edited by anyone so it naturally needs a flexible copyright and legal structure.

But creative commons has had it’s share of problems too.   legal cases disputing rights have provided temporary set backs.

Nonetheless.   Creative Commons is in perfect position to continue  pioneering the new revolution in intellectual property and copyrights in the web 2.0 world.

Creative Commons is on the edge of the web 2.0 revolution.  As more and more people create original content on the web, their has been confusion on copy rights.  As defined by law, any original work is automically protected and controlled by the creator.  But what happens when the creator wants to share his work with others and open it for collaboration?  Creative Commons makes this process as simple as brushing your teeth with an electric toothbrush.   Creative Commons asks the person who created the work what they would like to keep private and what they would like to share with others.  It’s the perfect platform to share your work, or to look for works to collaborate on.