Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organisation that provides free, standardised licenses for creators to use when sharing their work. These licenses are designed to make it easier for creators to share their work with others while retaining certain rights, such as attribution and control over how the work is used.
There are several types of CC licenses, each of which allows for different levels of use and modification of the original work. These licenses range from the most restrictive, which requires that the work be used only for non-commercial purposes and without modification, to the most permissive, which allows for unlimited use, modification, and redistribution of the work, even for commercial purposes.
The CC licenses are based on a series of standardised icons and legal language that make it clear what the terms of use are for each work. This allows creators to easily communicate their intentions and for users to understand what they can and cannot do with the work.
Using a CC license can be beneficial for creators because it allows them to share their work with a wider audience while still retaining control over how the work is used. It can also be helpful for users because it provides a clear framework for using and sharing works that would otherwise be protected by copyright.
In summary, Creative Commons licensing is a system of free, standardised licenses that allow creators to share their work while retaining certain rights. By using CC licenses, creators can make it easier for others to use and share their work while maintaining control over how it is used.
About the Licenses – What They Do
The Creative Commons copyright licenses and tools forge a balance inside the traditional “all rights reserved” setting that copyright law creates. These tools give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a simple, standardised way to grant copyright permissions to their created work. The combination of these tools and the users is a large and growing digital works, a pool of created content that can be copied, distributed, edited, remixed, and built upon, all within the boundaries of copyright law. The key to this is understanding the different types of Creative Commons License that is assigned to each piece of work.
About the Licenses – Design and Rationale
All Creative Commons licenses have several features in common. Every license helps creators —called licensors if they use the CC tools — retain copyright while giving others permission to copy, distribute, and make some uses of this work — at least non-commercially.
Every Creative Commons license also ensures licensors get the credit for their work they deserve. Every Creative Commons license works around the world and lasts as long as applicable copyright lasts (because they are built on copyright). These common features serve as the baseline, on top of which licensors can choose to grant additional permissions when deciding how they want their work to be used.
Creative Commons licenses do not affect freedoms that the law grants to users of creative works otherwise protected by copyright, such as exceptions and limitations to copyright law like fair dealing. Creative Commons licenses require licensees to get permission to do any of the things with a work that the law reserves exclusively to a licensor and that the license does not expressly allow. Licensees must credit the licensor, keep copyright notices intact on all copies of the work, and link to the license from copies of the work. Licensees cannot use technological measures to restrict access to the work by others.
