The iCommons Auction is now, officially, closed.

The iCommons Auction ran from 22 November to 14 December, 2007. This was an innovative auction of paraphernalia from some of the world’s leading Internet figures. From Internet activist and Stanford Law Professor, Lawrence Lessig’s coat that he wore in countries around the world that invited him to talk about free culture; to pre-prints from best-selling novelist, Cory Doctorow’s forthcoming, to-be-Creative Commons-licensed novel, Little Brother; and from #13 of only 20 plush toys of Firefox Japan’s mascot, Foxkeh that took the world by storm, to four of Indian intellectual property expert Lawrence Liang’s favorite Bollywood films: this auction was a celebration of free culture from around the world from those who make it and build it every day. All the proceeds of the auction will go to developing and sustaining iCommons’ global projects.

NEW:

Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture Coat
At the iCommons Summit in Dubrovnik in June 2007, Lawrence Lessig, author, activist and philosopher hung up his proverbial boots. He has not left the free culture movement that he founded (he remains CEO of Creative Commons) but his activism has taken a new turn, and he has left the stage to make way for new commentators, philosophers and leaders.

Rather than donating his boots, Lessig has kindly donated his hand-tailored coat that he wore while talking about free culture in dozens of countries around the world.

A personalized copy of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ by Davis Guggenheim (DVD)
Davis Guggenheim directed this award-winning movie which rocked the world; not only because it truly brought the documentary genre into the mainstream, but created universal awareness of the very real impact of global warming. Compellingly presented by Al Gore, this movie has turned people around the world into active participants in the fight to limit the effects of global warming. Davis Guggenheim is donating a personalized copy of An Inconvenient Truth to the highest bidder.

IDW Hamper
Our good friends at IDW Publishing have donated two very special books to the iCommons auction. Mixtionary, by Mia Christou, Scott Lobdell and John Nee is a special hardcover guide to communicating efficiently in our modern world. This humorous collection of one-liners is perfect for those times when newfangled ideas and phenomena leave us at a loss of words. Each situation is illustrated by veteran comic artist Shawn McManus.

The second item is a deluxe hardcover collection of Chester Gould’s timeless comic strip, Dick Tracy. This volume contains nearly 500 comic strips from the series’ early years, which ran from May 1933 through January 1935. This special volume features an introduction from Consulting Editor and longtime Tracy writer Max Allan Collins, as well as an interview between Collins and creator Chester Gould. This is a classic piece of comic book history.

A set of four classic and contemporary Bollywood movies donated by Lawrence Liang (DVDs)
A brilliant set of four movies that highlight the genius and distinctive flare that is Bollywood, are available as DVD set. The set includes Sholay, a 1975 adventure-action movie directed by Ramesh Shippy, and billed as “the greatest story ever told.� With a little bit of everything thrown in for good measure, from romance to drama, this is a perfect collector’s foil. The 2007 movie Manorama (translated as Six Feet Under) is a film noir detective story and is the highly feted directorial debut of Navdeep Singh. AOL India bills this movie as: “Almost Flawless – fantastic in every department and gives the impression of a Hollywood flick. An absolute must watch!�

Award-winning movie, Kal Ho Naa Ho, produced in 2003 and directed by Nikhil Advani, is billed as ‘a story of a lifetime … in a hearbeat!�. This is a deeply moving portrayal as seen through the eyes of the protagonist, Naina, who is shown a new way of life by her neighbour and love interest, Aman.Finally, another classic from 1975, Deewaar, directed by Yash Chopra, tells the age-old story of two brothers who choose different ways of life, one good, one bad, and how they have to make peace with themselves and one another.

Last remaining FREE BEER version 1.0 by Superflex
FREE BEER is free in the truest sense of the word: it was created by applying modern free software/open source methods to a traditional real-world product: beer. Brewed to a Creative Commons licensed recipe by students at the Copenhagen IT University and artist collective Superflex, this is the last bottle of the first batch of version 1.0 Free Beer. In the words of the Brazilian Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil: “It’s not just free beer, it’s good beer!”

The Lives of Others DVD, autographed by the director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
The Lives of Others is a German film that won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Golden Golden Globe Awards and has won acclaim in Germany, across Europe and internationally.

The film is a thriller/drama set in Communist East Berlin in the 1980s, and tells a story of the monitoring of the cultural scene by agents of the Stasi, the German Democratic Republic’s secret police. American film critic and commentator John Podhoretz called the film “one of the greatest movies ever made, and certainly the best film of this decade.â€�

This is Von Donnersmarck’s feature film debut, he both wrote and directed The Lives of Others. He is married to Christiane Asschenfeldt Henckel von Donnersmarck, who was previously Executive Director of Creative Commons International, the organisation responsible for the legal porting of Creative Commons licences around the world, and is a member of the iCommons board.

Hannah Uprichard ‘Free Culture Doll’ (Artwork)
Hannah, a New Zealand-born free culture artist who resides in the United Kingdom, makes masterpieces in the form of dolls, from found objects and recycled materials. Hannah as created a special doll for the iCommons online auction. This whimsical figure embodies free culture from its bold, “potato� body blazoned with the Creative Commons icon, to its long arms and delicate fingers that embody a perfect metaphor for our icommons network. This must-have doll is an 18cm high, one-of-a-kind.

Creative Commons International’s gift schwag (T-shirt, luggage tag, CD, keychain)
For those commoners who long for schwag but always seem to miss out at events, now a whole set of fabulous stuff could be yours for the asking from Creative Commons International! Included in the gift pack is a Creative Commons women’s t-shirt in black or navy blue with front logo (available in S, M, L), a Creative Commons men’s t-shirt in black or navy with front logo (available in S, M, L3), a fantastic resource in the form of a 2-disc compilation by Creative Commons Netherlands of Dutch music and videos licensed under various CC licences, a Creative Commons premium luggage tag, the ever-popular keychain and Creative Commons stickers.

‘Faces of the Eastern Cape’ by Gregor Rohrig (5 Photographic prints)
A set of five photographs by Gregor Rohrig, South African online journalist and iCommons volunteer. The pictures were taken in 2005 in the Eastern Cape, South Africa and show the faces and places of the community in Eastern Grahamstown.

This collection of photographs depicts the contrast of young and old, the vibrance, strength and cool calm of the people, faces and places of the Eastern Cape. Each photo has a story, Gregor tells this tale about Spiritual Tunes: “This Xhosa man walked up to me …tapped me on the shoulder, unwrapped his radio, smiled and said, “Now you can take MY photo” and took off. [I] still have not been able to track him down…â€�

Gregor exhibited these photographs during the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2005. The Project: Pictures for Life exhibition captured moments in the lives of South Africans living in the shanty towns of a small university-orientated city, Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape. Proceeds of the exhibition were passed back to the member of the community, and Gregor created a sustainable project called ‘Your snaps’ or ‘iisnaps zam’ in Xhosa, that still operates in Grahamstown today. Thanks to a donation by Fuji Film of 50 disposable cameras, volunteers are now going to the location to teach the principles of photography to members of the community, allowing them the opportunity to document their lives in pictures. As Gregor says, “everyone has a photographic memory, but not everyone has film.�

Dimensions: 10×15″ print with black inner frame, high quality print, glossy
Each photo is 1 of 28 prints
Including a digital signature by the photographer

Five Bookmooch books from Bookmooch Founder, John Buckman
BookMooch is an international, on-line book exchange community founded by John Buckman in July 2006. It has around 40,000 members, and membership is open to anyone and is free. BookMooch uses a points system for exchanging books, and members earn points by adding books to their inventories, sending books to other members and providing feedback when they receive books. The points earned can then be used to “buy� books from other members. All books “cost� the same number of points, with a small point surcharge for international mooches.

Pre-print of forthcoming novel by Cory Doctorow ‘Little Brother’ + copy of ‘Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now’
A signed set of pre-publication galleys from his forthcoming, to-be-CC-licensed novel, Little Brother. Cory Doctorow is a blogger, journalist and science fiction author. He is active in the Free Culture Movement, and speaks and writes extensively about liberalizing copyright laws, digital rights management, file sharing, Disney, and post-scarcity economics. He is a proponent of the Creative Commons organisation, and uses some of their licences for his books. Little Brother is his latest book, as yet unpublished, which is written for young adults. It is about hackers who declare war on the Department of Homeland Security, and can be seen as a how-to guide for young culture and technology jammers.

Cory Doctorow’s Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now are more than just a series of comic books. They are interpretations and retellings of Doctorow’s stories by some of the best comic book illustrators out there. Anda’s Game, the first in the series, has been written by Dara Naraghi’s and illustrated by Esteve Polls.

Five Japanese Prints by Joi Ito (photographic prints)
A set of five photographs from Joi Ito’s Flickr collection, showing nature and landscape portraits from Japan.

Apart from being the chairman of the board of Creative Commons and a member of the board of iCommons, Joi Ito is an avid photographer. In this collection he shoots a Shinkansen station in Yamagata, a view of Shanghai from the JW Marriot, a bamboo thicket from his yard and detail of dragonfly wings.

Dimensions: 10×15â€� with inner black frame, high quality print, glossy

First Creative Commons Brazil licence signed by Gilberto Gil
At the launch of Creative Commons Brazil in Porto Alegre, in June 2004, the Brazilian Minister of Culture, and one of Brazil’s most famous musicians, signed a symbolic CC licence. This piece is a combination of CC-history and Brazilian cultural history. Gil was one of the first international musicians to release songs under CC licences, and has been an active supporter of Creative Commons in Brazil and all over the world.

Wired subscription and Wired Science t-shirt
A year’s subscription to the most definitive tech mag on the planet, WIRED, is up for grabs along with a lesser-spotted WIRED Science t-shirt. Only a select few can ever be seen wearing these shirts which are not for sale anywhere. So, imagine yourself with a mug of java, feet up on the desk, flipping through WIRED mag wearing a WIRED Science t-shirt. Sound good? Start bidding now.

Wikipedia Fan Kit
For every Wikimaniac … Wikipedia has wowed the world by setting the benchmark for peer-produced quality content – free for the world to share. Show your support for this great project by bidding on the ‘Wikipedia Fan Kit’, which consists of Wikipedia USB, Wikimania T-shirt and Wikipedia puzzle piece autographed by Wikipedia Founder, Jimmy Wales.