By Wairagala Wakabi

JOHANNESBURG-- Creative Commons (cc), the growing global movement that aims to relax restrictions on the fair use of intellectual property, launched its South African chapter at a festive inaugural event in Johannesburg last night.
Professor Larry Lessig, widely regarded as the 'father' of the movement, inspired delegates with an innovative presentation explaining the practical value of cc. He described the origins of cc, saying it recognised the need for sharing creative works; and cited several moving examples of how cc was being used to develop new artistic products. He said Creative Commons turned thousands of consumers into creators of knowledge in world dominated by the consumer culture.
Last night's launch marked the start of the “Towards an African Digital Information Commons” conference convened by Wits University’s LINK Centre, with funding from the Canadian International Development Research Centre. It drew participants from across the globe, among them scholars, development workers, mercantile lawyers and journalists. Free music CDs and magazines were given away to participants to highlight the spirit of Creative Commons.
Creative Commons South Africa (ccSA) is the culmination of a series of events which began with a chance meeting between Prof Lessig and Heather Ford at Oxford University two years ago. After that meeting, Ford was hooked on Creative Commons telling everyone she knew about the benefits of the new system. Initially she only met with polite, but absolute skepticism. A combination of persistence and enthusiasm evenually saw her become Project Manager of the “Commons-sense Project” at the LINK Centre.
Today, many groups in South Africa have signed on, recent converts include the Department of Education that is now placing all its curriculum-related materials under the cc docket. The Shuttleworth Foundation, a driving force for the implementation of open source software in the country, is coming on board too. It is believed that the Foundation could require all work that it supports to go the cc way.
At the launch, while cc souvenirs and literature were handed out to participants at the registration table, organisers had to continually drag in more chairs to accommodate the much larger than anticipated audience. Ultimately, perhaps double the number of expected guests were present at the launch of ccSA, all thrilled to witness the launch of a movement that is certain to catch on fast across the African continent.
A core belief of the cc movement is that while creators of intellectual content need to be recognised, and their work protected, traditional copyright laws are often too complex and restrictive to allow for further intellectual development, or easy public access to this knowledge. “[Copyright] rules written for a different century don’t make sense given the technology of this century. The rules are too costly and too complex for a range of creators of knowledge to take part,” said Lessig.
Prof. Coenraad Visser, Head of Mercantile Law at the University of South Africa, said the internet had helped generate a wide range of information that creates many opportunities for developing countries. But “information feudalism” – the use of passwords on websites and the tightening of copyrights in some cases were holding back this potential.
Andre Rines, a volunteer at ccSA and the person responsible for writing the ccSA licence, took participants through the key areas of the licence which will soon be available in several southern African languages.
The launch event was crowned by a cocktail party where the main attraction was not necessarily the savoury snacks and the fine tunes from Joburg’s ‘340ml’ music band, but rather the animated discussions on the potential the Creative Commons movement could unleash in Africa.