The Chinese version of the Creative Commons (CC) licences was launched yesterday as part of efforts to better protect intellectual property rights (IPR).

Such licences provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators, according to Lawrence Lessig, chief executive officer of Creative Commons, a non-profit organization offering copyright licences for creative works.

"We have built upon the 'all rights reserved' concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary 'some rights reserved' approach," said Lessig, also a law professor at Stanford University.

CC licences can help avoid rigid protection of intellectual property rights, said Wang Chunyan, an associate professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China.

They will allow Chinese people to have easier access to foreign creative works, said Wang, who is responsible for running the project on the Chinese mainland.

"Distinguished Chinese works can also be more easily accessed by the world," said Lessig.

A CC licence does not mean giving up the copyright it entails offering some rights to any member of the public on certain conditions.

All CC licences require attribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor, according to Lessig.

Source: China Daily