A Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org/) license is simply a permission by the author or copyright holder for other people to re-distribute the work, or make other uses that the author permits. For instance, an author may wish to allow translations and other derivative works, but require attribution, the author could apply a CC-BY license. If an author wishes to allow any reuse, but only for non-commercial uses, the author could apply a CC-BY-NC license.
Creative Commons licenses are equivalent to “open source software” licenses, but are intended primarily for non-software creative works, such as music, films, texts, and images.
How do I apply a Creative Commons license to my own work?
Applying a CC license is as easy as adding the appropriate CC license graphic to your work, and linking back to the CC license. You don’t have to register it with the Creative Commons website, or the US Copyright Office.
The Creative Commons website has a “license chooser” to help creators figure out which license would work for them, and generate the graphic, HTML, and any other language they might wish to include.
How do I use a Creative Commons work?
Just look at the CC license, to see what kinds of uses and conditions apply. Almost always you will need to give credit to the creator of the work, and the license may include some additional restrictions. (Listed below.)
What Creative Commons licenses are there?
There are six different Creative Commons licenses, which include combinations of the the below four clauses. All CC licenses start with CC (“Creative Commons”), which includes the basic permission to copy and share that work. The CC website includes the official descriptions of the licenses at https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ .
- BY – Almost all CC licenses include “BY”, which simply means you have to give credit if you share the work, or include it in your own work. Look at the original work to see how that’s formatted, but it is generally the author, the title, the URL where you found the work, and the Creative Commons license.
- NC – Non-Commercial means that the work itself cannot be sold for profit. Printing or shipping costs can be charged.
- ND – No-Derivatives means that the author wants you to ask them before making any “derivative works”, including translations or adaptations.
- SA – Share-Alike means that if you modify the work in some way and share your modification, you need to keep the original license on your new work. If the original work was licensed CC-BY-SA, your adapted version of the work must also be licensed CC-BY-SA when you share it. If the original work was licensed CC-BY-NC-SA, your adapted version of the work must also be licensed CC-BY-NC-SA when you share it. (You do not have to share it, but if you do, the SA licensing restriction applies.)
License combinations include:
- CC-BY
- CC-BY-SA
- CC-BY-NC
- CC-BY-NC-SA
- CC-BY-ND
- CC-BY-NC-ND
Are CC licensed works in the public domain?
No, Creative Commons licensed works are copyrighted works, with permission to share and remix, but requiring attribution.
The public domain means that there is no copyright attached to a work, and users are free to reuse it in any way, with no conditions, including attribution. Of course, academic rules generally require credit, but there is no copyright or licensing requirement for reusing a public domain work.
Creative Commons does have a way for authors to dedicate their work to the public domain. The public dedication statement is CC0. This means no copyright is asserted, and there is no legal right for an author to require attribution.