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Freely enjoy Hatsune Miku and the gang with no swashbuckling required!
Crypton Future Media (CFM), the company behind popular Vocaloid packages such as Hatsune Miku, has announced that the illustrations on the packages will now be granted a Creative Commons license (CCL). The CCL covers the illustrations of Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Lin, Kagamine Ren, Megurine Luka, MEIKO, and KAITO.
As CFM’s popularity has risen in foreign countries, so has the demand for a foreign license for Vocaloid works. On Dec. 14, 2012, Creative Commons celebrated its 10th anniversary and conferred a CCL to CFM’s Vocaloid creations.
A CCL is a license that protects copyrights through public domain. Under such a license, copyrights are protected for works to be freely distributed and shared. Furthermore, within the restraints of the license, works can be freely redistributed and remixed by anyone. CCLs are offered by the international nonprofit organization, Creative Commons.
Regarding the newly appointed CCL, CFM said, “Aside from Japanese, the CCL’s use consent clause has been made available in 20 languages. Even more than this, it is our desire that our fans all over the world will use our characters after understanding the license.”
To be clear, the CCL only covers CFM’s official Vocaloid illustrations. It in no way covers illustrations by other creators nor does it cover videos in which the characters appear. The CCL also does not cover music created using the characters.
In other words, the CCL does not cover any derivative works made by users or creators. Regarding this point, CFM commented that they strongly urge users to read the license to avoid misunderstandings.
Source:
http://animeanime.jp/article/2012/12/17/12414.html (Japanese)
