Statement	  by	  Creative	  Commons	  to	  CDIP8	  (Geneva,	  November	  14,	  2011)	  	  Thank	   you	   Mr	   Chairman	   for	   the	   opportunity	   to	   make	   a	   statement;	   we	   would	   like	  to	  join	  other	  delegates	  in	  supporting	  your	  chairmanship.	  	  Creative	   Commons	   appreciates	   its	   continuing	   engagement	   with	   the	   World	  Intellectual	  Property	  Organization	  as	  an	  observer,	  and	  by	  recently	  participating	  in	   an	   important	   workshop	   on	   Enabling	   Creativity	   in	   the	   Digital	   Environment,	  which	  took	  place	  in	  Geneva	  last	  month.	  	  Creative	   Commons	   is	   an	   international	   nonprofit	   organization	   that	   offers	   free	  licenses	   and	   other	   legal	   tools	   to	   mark	   creative	   work	   with	   as	   some	   rights	  reserved,	   so	   others	   can	   share,	   remix,	   use	   commercially,	   or	   any	   combination	  thereof.	   As	   such,	   Creative	   Commons	   appreciates	   the	   importance	   of	   the	   work	   of	  this	   Committee,	   and	   believes	   that	   its	   focus	   on	   finding	   an	   adequate	   balance	  between	  the	  interests	  of	  users	  and	  owners	  is	  to	  be	  applauded.	  	  We	   would	   like	   to	   express	   our	   support	   to	   the	   work	   on	   the	   Committee	   on	  flexibilities	   in	   the	   Intellectual	   Property	   system,	   particularly	   its	   work	   on	  educating	   stakeholders	   through	   workshops	   at	   national	   and	   regional	   level.	   We	  also	   welcome	   the	   creation	   of	   a	   web	   page	   dedicated	   solely	   to	   highlighting	   the	  work	  on	  flexibilities,	  and	  encourage	  the	  Committee	  to	  continue	  with	  this	  line	  of	  work.	  	  We	   would	   also	   like	   to	   compliment	   the	   Committee	   on	   presenting	   the	   Scoping	  Study	   on	   Copyright	   and	   Related	   Rights	   and	   the	   Public	   Domain	   during	   the	   7th	  session.	   We	   would	   like	   to	   highlight	   that	   in	   the	   study,	   Creative	   Commons	   was	  specifically	  mentioned	  as	  a	  copyright	  licensing	  system	  that	  allow	  greater	  access,	  identification	  and	  location	  of	  the	  public	  domain.	  	  Similarly,	   we	   were	   extremely	   pleased	   to	   read	   the	   excellent	   study	   entitled	  “Taxonomy-­‐Analytical	  Study	  for	  the	  Project	  on	  Open	  Collaborative	  Projects	  and	  IP-­‐Based	   Models”.	   We	   would	   like	   to	   highlight	   that	   this	   report	   comments	   that	  open	   source	   and	   Creative	   Commons	   licensing	   constitute	   valid	   ways	   to	   use	   the	  intellectual	   property	   system	   to	   permit	   owners	   to	   allow	   users	   to	   build,	   modify,	  and	  redistribute	  their	  works	  to	  varying	  degrees,	  this	  in	  order	  to	  respond	  to	  the	  rapid	  exchange	  of	  digital	  technologies.	  	  	  We	  believe	  that	  enabling	  technology	  transfer	  to	  developing	  countries	  is	  a	  priority	  of	  the	  international	  IP	  system,	  therefore	  we	  welcome	  the	  continuing	  work	  in	  this	  respect.	   We	   urge	   the	   Committee	   to	   continue	   to	   champion	   the	   interest	   of	  developing	  countries.	  	  	  Thank	  you.