Is Creative Commons becoming mainstream?

Most readers of this blog know Creative Commons (CC) licensing well.  However, outside of the blogosphere and the IP field, CC is relatively unknown.  Over the last few months, CC has racked up some victories that are pushing it into mainstream culture very quickly.

Late last year, then President-elect Obama made news in the IP world when he announced that the content on Change.gov would be licensed under the CC-by license.  Even before that, Obama placed many photos from his campaign on Flickr.  They are licensed under the CC-by-nc-sa license, including the famous election night pictures that became an overnight sensation.

Now that Obama has entered the White House, licensing of his content is no longer an issue.  All government works are automatically part of the public domain.  17 U.S.C. § 105.  However, Obama took the extra step of making sure all of the information on the White House site would be free by requiring third party content to be under the CC-by license.

Just a few days ago, we reported that Nina Paley released her award winning movie Sita Sings the Blues under a cc by-sa license.  Just a day or two ago, Gawker Media, owners of the highly popular blogs including Lifehacker, Gizmodo,and Gawker, announced that all of their blogs will be licensed under the CC-by-nc license.  Lastly, this blog is licensed under CC-by-nc-sa (see below).

Creative Commons is making great strides in the world of IP.  With so many people adopting CC for their content, we will soon approach a day where CC licensing is the norm.