HONG KONG, October 21 /PRNewswire/ --

The creativity of Asia's people will be supported and shared thanks to a new long-term strategic partnership between the DotAsia Organisation (DotAsia, http://www.registry.asia ) and Creative Commons (CC).

(Logo: http://www.xprn.com/xprn/sa/200808151139.jpg )

DotAsia, the not-for-profit registry operator for the .Asia Internet top-level domain, plans to commit US$100,000 to Creative Commons in support of its cause, outreach and community efforts in Asia. In addition, DotAsia will contribute time and effort into assisting in the coordination of events, activities of CC's regional chapters and various other socio-technical initiatives, such as a next generation copyright registry project.

The partnership will be announced by the CEO of Creative Commons, Mr. Joi Ito, and Mr. Edmon Chung, the CEO of DotAsia, during the launch ceremony next Saturday afternoon (Oct 25) for Creative Commons Hong Kong (CCHK) at the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Kowloon, Hong Kong. For more details about the launch event visit: http://hk.creativecommons.org .

We are thrilled to work with Joi and the brilliant team at Creative Commons, said Edmon Chung, the partnership matches the core mission of DotAsia to promote Internet development and adoption in Asia. It also helps strengthen our connection to the worldwide IPR community. Stay tuned on http://www.creativecommons.asia for CC activities in Asia.

The contribution from DotAsia is very meaningful to the development of Creative Commons in Asia. Through our partnership with DotAsia, Joi Ito added. CC can look forward to building stronger rapport with the creative and cultural communities in Greater China and Asia.

Earlier this year DotAsia and the International Federation Against Copyright Theft -- Greater China (IFACT-GC), representing the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in Hong Kong, agreed to establish a cooperative mechanism for the online protection of movies and to promote the proactive adoption of the .Asia domain by, and educational programs for, the creative industries around Asia.

About DotAsia Organisation:

DotAsia Organisation ( http://www.registry.asia ) is a not-for-profit corporation with a mission to promote Internet development and adoption in Asia. The organization oversees the '.Asia' top-level Internet domain name, and is formed as an open consortium of 20 official top-level-domain authorities around the region, including .CN (China), .JP (Japan), .KR (Korea), .IN (India), .NZ (New Zealand), .PH (Philippines), etc., and 5 regional Internet organizations including APNIC, APNG, APCERT, PAN and APTLD. In the past two decades Asia has developed into a global force in the commercial, political and cultural network. The .Asia domain aspires to embrace this dynamism in the Asia Century to become a nucleus, intersection and breeding ground for Internet activity and development in the region.

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001, that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works, whether owned or in the public domain. Through its free copyright licenses, Creative Commons offers authors, artists, scientists, and educators the choice of a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the all rights reserved concept of traditional copyright to enable a voluntary some rights reserved approach. Creative Commons was built with and is sustained by the generous support of organizations including the Center for the Public Domain, Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as members of the public. For more information about Creative Commons, visit http://creativecommons.org .

Media Enquiries: Pavan Budhrani Tel: +852-3741-0015 Email: pavan@registry.asia Web site: http://hk.creativecommons.org http://www.registry.asia http://creativecommons.org http://www.xprn.com/xprn/sa/200808151139.jpg

Pavan Budhrani of DotAsia, +852-3741-0015, pavan@registry.asia