Frequently Asked Questions
These FAQs are designed to provide a better understanding of CreativeCommons, our licenses, and our other legal and technical tools. They providebasic information, sometimes about fairly complex topics, and will often linkto more detailed information.
- Other CC FAQs:CC0 Public Domain Dedication andPublicDomain Mark.
- “Licensor”, “rights holder”, “owner”, and “creator” may be usedinterchangeably to refer to the person or entity applying a CC license.
- Information about the licenses is primarily made with reference to the 4.0suite, but earlierlicense versions are mentioned where they differ.
- Have a question that isn’t answered here? Contactinfo@creativecommons.org.
Creative Commons does not provide legal advice. This FAQ is forinformational purposes and is not a substitute for legal advice. It may notcover important issues that affect you. You should consult with your own lawyerif you have questions.
About CC
What is Creative Commonsand what do you do?
Creative Commons is a global nonprofit organization that enables sharing andreuse of creativity and knowledge through the provision of free legal tools.Our legal tools help those who want to encourage reuse of their works byoffering them for use under generous, standardized terms; those who want tomake creative uses of works; and those who want to benefit from this symbiosis.Our vision is to help others realize the full potential of the internet. CC hasaffiliatesall over theworld who help ensure our licenses work internationally and who raiseawareness of our work.
Although Creative Commons is best known for its licenses, our work extendsbeyond just providing copyright licenses. CC offers other legal and technicaltools that also facilitate sharing and discovery of creative works, such asCC0, a public domaindedication for rights holders who wish to put their work into the public domainbefore the expiration of copyright, and thePublic DomainMark, a tool for marking a work that is in the worldwide public domain.Creative Commons licenses and tools were designed specifically to work with theweb, which makes content that is offered under their terms easy to search for,discover, and use.
For more information about CC, ourmain website contains in-depthinformation abouttheorganization, itsstaff andboard of directors, itshistory, and itssupporters. You can alsoreadCC case studiesto learn about some of the inspiring ways CC licenses and tools have been usedto share works and support innovative business models. You can find regularlyupdated information about CC by visiting theblog.
Is Creative Commons againstcopyright?
Absolutely not. CC hasresponded to claims tothe contrary. CC licenses are copyright licenses, and depend on theexistence of copyright to work. CC licenses are legal tools that creators andother rights holders can use to offer certain usage rights to the public, whilereserving other rights. Those who want to make their work available to thepublic for limited kinds of uses while preserving their copyright may want toconsider using CC licenses. Others who want to reserve all of their rightsunder copyright law should not use CC licenses.
That said, Creative Commons recognizes the need for change in copyright law,and many members of the Creative Commons community are active participants inthe copyright reform movement. For more information, see ourstatement in support ofcopyright reform.
What does “Some Rights Reserved”mean?
Copyright grants tocreators a bundle of exclusive rights over their creative works, whichgenerally include, at a minimum, the right to reproduce, distribute, display,and make adaptations. The phrase “All Rights Reserved” is often used by ownersto indicate that they reserve all of the rights granted to them under the law.When copyright expires, the work enters thepublic domain, and therights holder can no longer stop others from engaging in those activities undercopyright, with the exception of moral rights reserved to creators in somejurisdictions. Creative Commons licenses offer creators a spectrum of choicesbetween retaining all rights and relinquishing all rights (public domain), anapproach we call “Some Rights Reserved.”
No. Creative Commons is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice orlegal services. CC is similar to a self-help service that offers free,form-based legal documents for others to use. These FAQ answers many of themost common questions. There is also specialized information available on thefollowing pages:
- Marking practices for creators
- Marking practices for reusers
- DataFAQ
- Differences between CC license versions
- Differences between jurisdiction ports of earlier licenseversions
- Public domain mark FAQ
- CC0 FAQ
While CC does provide this informational guidance about its licenses andother tools, this information may not apply to your particular situation, andshould never be taken as legal advice.
If you’re looking for legal advice about using CC licenses and other tools,we recommend contacting theCreative Commons affiliate in your jurisdiction. CCaffiliates are highly connected to the communities of copyright lawyers intheir countries. We also offer alist of lawyers and organizations who have identifiedthemselves as willing to provide information to others about CC licensingissues. However, please note that CC does not provide referral services, anddoes not endorse or recommend any person on that list.
No, CC does not collect content or track licensed material. However, CCbuilds technical tools that help the public search for and use works licensedunder our licenses and other legal tools, and many others have built such toolsas well.CC Search is one tooldeveloped by CC to help the public discover works offered under CreativeCommons licenses on the internet via CC-aware search engines andrepositories.
What do the Creative Commonsbuttons do?
The CC buttons are a shorthand way to convey the basic permissionsassociated with material offered under CC licenses. Creators and owners whoapply CC licenses to their material candownload and apply thosebuttons to communicate to users the permissions granted in advance. Whenthe material is offered online, the buttons should usually link out to thehuman-readable license deeds (which, in turn, link to the license itself).
May I use the CreativeCommons logo and buttons?
You maydownload highresolution versions of the Creative Commons logos and use them inconnection with your work or your website, provided you comply with ourpolicies. Among other things,if you use the logos on a website or on your work, you may not alter the logosin any respect—such as by changing the font, the proportions, or the colors.CC’s buttons, name, and corporate logo (the “CC” in a circle) are trademarks ofCreative Commons. You cannot use them in ways not permitted by our policiesunless you first receive express, written permission. This means, for example,that you cannot (without our permission) print your own buttons and t-shirtsusing CC logos, although you can purchase them in CC’sstore.
I love Creative Commons. Howcan I help?
Please support CC by making a donation through oursupport page. Donations can behandled through PayPal or by credit card. You can also support CC by visitingourstore.
CC always welcomes your feedback, which you can provide by emailing.You can also participate in CC’semail discussion listsand share feedback and ideas in one of those forums.
If you are a software developer, sysadmin, or have other technicalexpertise, pleasejoinour developer community and help build the tools that build thecommons.
Finally, one of the best ways to support CC is by supporting our causesyourself. Follow ourblog tofind out about current issues where you can help get involved and spread theword, and advocate for free and open licensing in your own communities.
Creative Commons is a global nonprofit organization that enables sharing andreuse of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools, with affiliates allover the world who help ensure our licenses work internationally and raiseawareness about our work. Our tools are free, and our reach is wide.
In order to…
- continue developing our licenses and public domain tools to make sure theyare legally and technically up-to-date around the world,
- help creators implement these tools on websites through best practices andindividual assistance,
- enable CC licensing on major content-sharing platforms,
- enhance CC-licensed resource search and discovery,
- advocate for CC licensing and open policies ineducation,science, andculture, and
- myriad other activities we’re forgetting to mention, such as all theeveryday boring but essential operations that go into running anorganization
…we need $ to make it all happen! For more information, please take a lookat ourAnnual Report.
Creative Commons has always relied on the generosity of both individuals andorganizations to fund its ongoing operations. It is essential we have thepublic’s support because it is the creators and users of CC material who makeour tools relevant in this digital age. They depend on the tools and servicesCC provides through their reuse and remix of the rich, open resources availableonWikipedia,Flickr,SoundCloud,Vimeo,Europeana,MIT OpenCourseWare,PLOS,AlJazeera, andYouTube—just to name a few.Many of these people donate $10, $25, or $50 to CC, to help keep it up andrunning so we can continue to provide our tools and services for free, as anonprofit organization. The more people whodonate to CC, the moreindependent it will remain.
General License Information
What are Creative Commonslicenses?
Creative Commons licensesprovide an easy way to manage the copyright terms that attach automatically toall creative material undercopyright. Our licensesallow that material to be shared and reused under terms that are flexible andlegally sound. Creative Commons offers a core suite of six copyright licenses.Because there is no single “Creative Commons license,” it is important toidentifywhich of the sixlicenses you are applying to your material, which of the six licenses hasbeen applied to material that you intend to use, and in both cases the specificversion.
All of our licenses require that users provide attribution (BY) to thecreator when the material is used and shared. Some licensors choose the BYlicense, which requires attribution to the creator as the only condition toreuse of the material. The other five licenses combine BY with one or more ofthree additional license elements: NonCommercial (NC), which prohibitscommercial use of the material; NoDerivatives (ND), which prohibits the sharingof adaptations of the material; and ShareAlike (SA), which requires adaptationsof the material be released under the same license.
CC licenses may be applied to any type of work, includingeducationalresources,music,photographs,databases,government and public sector information, andmanyother types of material. The only categories of works for which CC does notrecommend its licenses arecomputersoftware and hardware. You should also not apply Creative Commons licensesto works that arenolonger protected by copyright or are otherwise in the public domain.Instead, for those works in the worldwide public domain, we recommend that youmark them with thePublicDomain Mark.
How do CC licenses operate?
CC licenses are operative only when applied to material in which acopyrightexists, and even then only when a particular use would otherwise not bepermitted by copyright. Note that the latest version of CC licenses alsoapplies to rights similar to copyright, such asneighboringrights andsuigeneris database rights.Learnmore about the scope of the licenses. This means that CC license terms andconditions arenot triggered byusespermitted under any applicable exceptions and limitations to copyright, nordo license terms and conditions apply to elements of a licensed work that arein the public domain. This also means that CC licenses do not contractuallyimpose restrictions on uses of a work where there is no underlying copyright.This feature (and others)distinguishCC licenses from some other open licenses like theODbL andODC-BY, both of which areintended toimposecontractual conditions and restrictions on the reuse of databases injurisdictions where there is no underlying copyright or sui generis databaseright.
All CC licenses are non-exclusive:creatorsand owners can enter into additional, different licensing arrangements forthe same material at any time (often referred to as “dual-licensing” or“multi-licensing”). However,CClicenses are not revocable once granted unless there has been a breach, andeven then the license is terminated only for the breaching licensee.
Please note that CC0 is not a license; it is a public domain dedication.When CC0 is applied to a work, copyright no longer applies to the work in mostjurisdictions around the world. Therefore, references to dual licensingarrangements like the one above are inapplicable to CC0.
There are alsovideos andcomics that offer visual descriptions of how CC licenses work.
In November 2013, Creative Commons published the version 4.0 license suite.These licenses are the most up-to-date licenses offered by CC, and arerecommended over all prior versions. You can see how the licenses have beenimproved over time on thelicense versionspage. 4.0 has been drafted to be internationally valid, and will haveofficial translations becoming available after publication.
No. By design, CC licenses do not reduce, limit, or restrict any rightsunder exceptions and limitations to copyright, such asfair use orfair dealing. If your useof CC-licensed material would otherwise be allowed because of an applicableexception or limitation, you do not need to rely on the CC license or complywith its terms and conditions.This is afundamental principle of CC licensing.
Our licenses and legal tools are intended for use by anyone who holdscopyright in the material. This is often, but not always, the creator.
Creative Commons offers licenses and tools to the public free of charge anddoes not require that creators or other rights holders register with CC inorder to apply a CC license to a work. This means thatCCdoes not have special knowledge of who uses the licenses and for whatpurposes, nor does CC have a way to contact creators beyond means generallyavailable to the public. CC has no authority to grant permission on behalf ofthose persons, nor does CC manage those rights on behalf of others.
If you would like to obtain additional permissions to use the work beyondthose granted by the license that has been applied, or if you’re not sure ifyour intended use is permitted by the license, you shouldcontactthe rights holder.
AreCreative Commons licenses enforceable in a court of law?
Creative Commons licenses are drafted to be enforceable around the world,and have beenenforced incourt in various jurisdictions. To CC’s knowledge, the licenses have neverbeen held unenforceable or invalid.
CC licenses contain a “severability” clause. This allows a court toeliminate any provision determined to be unenforceable, and enforce theremaining provisions of the license.
CCalertsprospective licensors they need to have all necessary rights beforeapplying a CC license to a work. If that is not the case and someone has markedyour work with a CC license without your authorization, you should contact thatperson and tell them to remove the license from your work. You may also wish tocontact a lawyer. Creative Commons is not a law firm and cannot represent youor give you legal advice, but there arelawyerswho have identified themselves as interested in representing people inCC-related matters.
One of CC’s goals is ensuring that all of its legal tools work globally, sothat anyone anywhere in the world can share their work on globally standardterms. To this end, CC offers a core suite of six international copyrightlicenses (formerly called the “unported”) that are drafted based largely onvariousinternationaltreaties governing copyright, taking into account as manyjurisdiction-specific legal issues as possible. The latest version (4.0) hasbeen drafted with particular attention to the needs of internationalenforceability.
For version 3.0 and earlier, Creative Commons has also offered portedversions of its six core licenses for many jurisdictions (which usuallycorrespond to countries, but not always). These ported licenses are based onthe international license suite but have been modified to reflect local nuancesin the expression of legal terms and conditions, drafting protocols, andlanguage. The ported licenses and the international licenses are all intendedto be legally effective everywhere. CC expects that few, if any, ports will benecessary for 4.0.
CC recommends that you take advantage of the improvements in the 4.0 suiteexplained on thelicense versionspage unless there areparticularconsiderations you are aware of that would require a ported license.
Yes. Works licensed under CC BY may be incorporated into works that arelicensed under CC BY-SA. For example, you may incorporate a CC BY photographinto a Wikipedia article so long as you keep all copyright notices intact,provide proper attribution, and otherwise comply with the terms of CC BY.Learn more about thelicenses.
Yes, anyone may use CC licenses for material they own, including governmentsand IGOs, and these institutionsfrequently use CC licenses on their copyrightablematerial. The reasons for doing so vary, and often include a desire tomaximize the impact and utility of works for educational and informationalpurposes, and to enhance transparency.
Creative Commons licenses havedesirable features that makethem the preferred choice over custom licenses. CC licenses are standard andinteroperable, which means material published by different creators using thesame type of CC license can be translated, modified, compiled, and remixedwithout legal barriers depending on theparticularlicense applied. Creative Commons licenses are also machine-readable,allowing CC-licensed works to be easily discovered via search engines such asGoogle. These features maximize distribution, reuse, and impact of workspublished by governments and IGOs.
Though we encourage anyone to use version 4.0, which is internationallyvalid and may be used by individuals as well as organizations, there is an IGOported version of 3.0 that IGOs may also use. Read more about howgovernmentsandIGOsuse and leverage CC licenses and legal tools, considerations for using ourlicenses, andhowthey operate in the IGO context.
Canchildren apply Creative Commons licenses to work they create?
This issue depends largely on the laws in place where the child lives. Inthe United States, children can be copyright holders and are entitled tolicense their works in the same manner as adults. However, they may have theright to disaffirm certain types of legal agreements, including licenses. Inmany parts of the United States, for example, children have the ability todisaffirm some types of agreements under certain circumstances once they reachthe age where they are considered adults within the relevant jurisdiction. Weare unaware of any attempt by a licensor to exercise the disaffirmation rightwith respect to a CC license applied to a work.
What arethe official translations of the CC licenses and CC0?
Official language translations will be available for the 4.0 licenses andCC0. When you license your own work, you may use or link to the text of anyavailable official translation. When you reuse CC-licensed material, you maycomply with the license conditions by referring to any available officialtranslation of the license. These translations are linguistic translations ofthe English version which adhere as closely as possible to the original text.These translations have been done by our affiliates in accordance with theLegalCode Translation Policy and with the oversight and detailed review of theCC legal team. Note that these are equivalents of the original English; thesetranslations arenotjurisdictionported versions. You may find a list of all available translationshere.
For versions 3.0 and earlier, official translations are not available. Someunofficial translations were made for informational purposes only.(Jurisdiction ported versions of version 3.0 and earlier were generallypublished in the official language(s) of the appropriate jurisdiction. However,the ported licenses arenotequivalent to the international licenses, and do not serve as substitutablereferences for purposes of complying with the terms and conditions of thelicenses.)
What is a BY-SA CompatibleLicense?
A BY-SA Compatible License is a license officially designated by CreativeCommons pursuant to theShareAlikecompatibility process. Once deemed a BY-SA Compatible License, you may usethe license to publish your contributions to an adaptation of a BY-SA work. Tosee the list of BY-SA Compatible Licenses, clickhere. Learn moreabout ShareAlike compatibilityhere.
For Licensors
Choosing a license
Applying a Creative Commons license to your material is a serious decision.When you apply a CC license, you give permission to anyone to use your materialfor the full duration of applicable copyright and similar rights.
CC has identifiedsomethings that you should consider before you apply a CC license, some ofwhich relate to your ability to apply a CC license at all. Here are somehighlights:
- Is the material copyrightable? If not, is it subject toneighboringrights orsuigeneris database rights? CC licenses do not apply to material in thepublicdomain. Different countries have different standards for what is in thepublic domain.
- Do you own the material you want to license? If not, are you otherwiseauthorized to license it under the specific CC license you are interested inusing? You should not apply a license to material that you do not own or thatyou are not authorized to license.
- Are you aware that CC licensesarenot revocable? You are free to stop offering material under a CC license atany time, but this will not affect the rights associated with any copies ofyour work already in circulation. (Any particular licensee may lose his or herrights after violating the license, but this does not affect continual use ofthe work by other licensees.)
- Are you a member of acollectingsociety? If you are, you shouldmakesure that you are able to use CC licenses for your materials.
- Always read the terms and conditions of the specific license you plan toapply. Additionally, there are severalterms that maydiffer in the earlier versions of the license, both unported and ported.Ifyou choose to use a pre-4.0 version or any ported version, clauses such aschoice of law may affect your desired choice of license.
How should I decide whichlicense to choose?
If you are unsure which license best suits your needs, there are plenty ofresources to help rights holders choose the right CC license. CC Australia hasdeveloped aflowchart that may be useful in helping you settle on the right license foryour work. You can alsoread casestudies of others who are using CC licenses. The CC community can alsorespond to questions, and may have already addressed issues you raise. The CCcommunityemail discussionlists and discussion archives may be useful resources.
Finally, you may also want toconsultwith a lawyer to obtain advice on the best license for your needs.
The latest version of the Creative Commons licenses is version 4.0. Youshould always use the latest version of the Creative Commons licenses in orderto take advantage of the many improvements described on thelicenseversions page. In particular, 4.0 is meant to be better suited tointernational use, and use in many different contexts, includingsharing data.
What if CClicenses have not been ported to my jurisdiction?
All CC licenses are intended to work worldwide. Unless you have a specificreason to use aportedlicense, we suggest you consider using one of the international licenses.4.0 will support official translations of the international license for thosewho wish to use the licenses in another language.
As of version 4.0, CC is discouraging ported versions, and has placed a holdon new porting projects following its publication until sometime in 2014. Atthat point, CC will reevaluate the necessity of porting in the future.
Should Ichoose an international license or a ported license?
We recommend that you use a version 4.0 international license. This is themost up-to-date version of our licenses, drafted after broad consultation withour global network of affiliates, and it has been written to be internationallyvalid. There are currently noportsof 4.0, and it is planned that few, if any, will be created.
All of the ported licenses are at version 3.0 or earlier, which meanslicensors using those licenses do not have the benefit of theimprovements made in the 4.0 licensesuite. But even before considering the improvements in 4.0, there areseveral reasons why theinternational licenses may be preferable for rightsholders, even if the licenses have been ported to their jurisdiction. As anorganization, CC itself licenses all of its own content under an internationallicense because, among other reasons, the international licenses areessentially jurisdiction-neutral while remaining effective globally. Theneutral nature of the international licenses appeals to many people andorganizations, particularly for use in connection with global projects thattranscend political borders. Finally, it is important to know that some of theported licenses contain a choice of law provision, which may be undesirable foryour needs.
However, some rights holders still choose a license ported to their localjurisdiction because they believe their needs are not sufficiently met by theinternational licenses. If the licenses have been ported to your jurisdictionand you feel that the ported licenses better account for some aspect of locallegislation, then you may wish to consider a ported license.
You canuse ourjurisdiction database to compare international licenses and ports on theseissues and others, such as whether a ported license contains a choice of law orforum selection clause.
Why should I usethe license chooser? What if I don’t?
Licensors are not required to use theCC license chooser or provideany information about themselves or their material when applying a CC licenseto their material. However, using the license chooser enables licensors to takeadvantage of the “machine readable” layer of CC licenses. Ourmachine-readable codeenhances the discoverability of your work because that code allows software,search engines, and other tools to recognize when something is licensed under aCC license. The code also facilitates attribution: when users click on the CCbutton placed on your site, they will be linked directly to HTML code that theycan cut and paste to provide attribution.
How do Iapply a Creative Commons license to my material?
For online material: Select the license that is appropriatefor your materialfrom the CClicense chooser and then follow theinstructionsto include the HTML code. The code will automatically generate alicensebutton and a statement that your material is licensed under a CC license.If you are only licensing part of a work (for example, if you have created avideo under a CC license but are using a song under a different license), besure to clearlymarkwhich parts are under the CC license and which parts are not. The HTML codewill also include metadata, which allows the material to be discovered viaCreative Commons-enabled searchengines.
For offline material: Identify which license you wish toapply to your work and either (a)markyour work with a statement such as, “This work is licensed under theCreative Commons [insert description] License. To view a copy of the license,visit [insert url]”; or (b) insert the applicablelicensebuttons with the same statement and URL link.
For third-party platforms: Manymediaplatforms likeFlickr,YouTube, andSoundCloud have built-in Creative Commonscapabilities, letting users mark their material with a CC license through theiraccount settings. The benefit of using this functionality is that it allowsother people to find your content whensearching on those platforms forCC-licensed material. If the platform where you’re uploading your contentdoes not support CC licensing, you can still identify your content asCC-licensed in the text description of your content.
Legally, these three options are the same. The only difference betweenapplying a CC license offline rather than online is that marking a work onlinewith metadata will ensure that users will be able to find it through CC-enabledsearch engines.
CC offers resources on thebestpractices for marking your material and onhowto mark material in different media (.pdf).
No. CC offers its licenses, code, and tools to the public free of charge,without obligation. You do not need to register with Creative Commons to applya CC license to your material; it is legally valid as soon as you apply it toany material you have the legal right to license.
CC does not require or provide any means for creators or other rightsholders to register use of a CC license,nordoes CC maintain a database of works distributed under Creative Commonslicenses. CC also does not require registration of the work with a nationalcopyright agency.
What do theterms and conditions of a CC license apply to?
Although CC licenses get attached to tangible works (such as photos andnovels), the license terms and conditions apply to the licensor’scopyrightin the licensed material. The public is granted “permission to exercise” thoserights inanymedium or format. It is the expression that is protected by copyright andcovered by the licenses, not any particular medium or format in which theexpression is manifested. This means, for example, that a CC licenseappliedto a digitized copy of a novel grants the public permission under copyrightto use a print version of the same novel on the same terms and conditions(though you may have to purchase the print version from a bookstore).
Can I apply aCreative Commons license to software?
We recommend against using Creative Commons licenses for software. Instead,we strongly encourage you to use one of the very good software licenses whichare already available. We recommend consideringlicenseslisted as free by theFree SoftwareFoundation andlisted as “opensource” by theOpen SourceInitiative.
Unlike software-specific licenses, CC licenses do not contain specific termsabout the distribution of source code, which is often important to ensuring thefree reuse and modifiability of software. Many software licenses also addresspatent rights, which are important to software but may not be applicable toother copyrightable works. Additionally, our licenses are currently notcompatible with the major software licenses, so it would be difficult tointegrate CC-licensed work with other free software. Existing software licenseswere designed specifically for use with software and offer a similar set ofrights to the Creative Commons licenses.
Version 4.0 of CC’s Attribution-ShareAlike (BY-SA) license isone-way compatiblewith theGNU General PublicLicense version 3.0 (GPLv3). This compatibility mechanism is designed forsituations in which content is integrated into software code in a way thatmakes it difficult or impossible to distinguish the two. There are specialconsiderations required before using this compatibility mechanism. Read moreabout ithere.
Also, the CC0 Public Domain Dedicationis GPL-compatibleand acceptable for software. For details,seethe relevant CC0 FAQ entry.
While we recommend against using a CC license on software itself, CClicenses may be used for software documentation, as well as for separateartistic elements such as game art or music.
Can I apply aCreative Commons license to databases?
Yes. CC licensescanbe used on databases. In the 4.0 license suite, applicablesuigeneris database rights are licensed under the same license conditions ascopyright. Manygovernmentsand others use CC licenses for data and databases.
For more detailed information about how CC licenses apply to data anddatabases, visit our detailedData FAQ.
Could I use aCC license to share my logo or trademark?
Creative Commons does not recommend using a CC license on a logo ortrademark. While a logo or trademark can be covered by copyright laws inaddition to trademark laws, the special purposes of trademarks make CC licensesan unsuitable mechanism for sharing them in most cases. Generally, logos andtrademarks are used to identify the origin of a product or service, or toindicate that it meets a specific standard or quality. Allowing anyone to reuseor modify your logo or trademark as a matter of copyright could result in yourinability to limit use of your logo or trademark selectively to accomplishthose purposes. Applying a CC license to your trademarks and logos could evenresult in a loss of your trademark rights altogether. Seebelowfor more about how to license material that includes a trademark or logo.
There are other ways to share your logos and trademarks widely whilepreserving your trademark rights. Establishing a trademark policy that grantspermissions in advance for limited uses is one common alternative.Mozilla,Wikimedia, andCreative Commons have eachpublished policies that accomplish the dual objectives of encouraging reuse andpreserving trademark rights.
CC licenses should not be applied to works in the worldwidepublicdomain. All CC licenses are clear that theydonot have the effect of placing restrictions on material that wouldotherwise be unrestricted, and you cannot remove a work from the public domainby applying a CC license to it. If you want to dedicate your own work to thepublic domain before the expiration of applicable copyright or similar rights,use CC’s legally robustpublicdomain dedication. If a work is already in the worldwide public domain, youshould mark it with CC’sPublicDomain Mark.
Note that, in some cases, a work may be in the public domain under thecopyright laws of some jurisdictions but not others. For example, U.S.government works are in the public domain under the copyright law of the UnitedStates, but may be protected by copyright laws in other jurisdictions. A CClicense applied to such a work would be effective (and the license restrictionsenforceable) in jurisdictions where copyright protection exists, but would notbe operative if U.S. copyright law is determined to be the applicable law.
Creators may also apply Creative Commons licenses to material they createthat are adapted from public domain works, or to remixed material, databases,or collections that include work in the public domain. However, in each ofthese instances, the license does not affect parts of the work that areunrestricted by copyright or similar rights. We strongly encourage you tomarkthe public domain material, so that others know they are also free to usethis material without legal restriction.
That depends. You can apply a CC license to your photograph if yourphotograph constitutes a work of original authorship, a question that varies byjurisdiction. As a general matter, your photograph must involve some creativechoices, such as background setting, lighting, angle, or other mark ofcreativity. In the United States, an exact photographic copy of a public domainwork is not subject to copyright because there is no originality (even if thereis effort or “sweat” exerted in its creation).
In practice, if your photograph is sufficiently creative to attractcopyright protection, people will likely have to comply with the licenseconditions if they reproduce your entire photograph in verbatim form, absentsome applicable exception or limitation such as fair use. However,they would not have to comply with the license conditions ifthey reproduce only those parts of the work in the public domain. This isbecause your copyright in the adaptation only extends to the material youcontributed, not to the underlying work.
Yes, but it is important to prominently mark any third party material youincorporate into your work so reusers do not think the CC license applies tothat material. The CC license only applies to the rights you have in the work.For example, if your CC-licensed slide deck includes a Flickr image you areusing pursuant to fair use, make sure to identify that image as not beingsubject to the CC license. For more information about incorporating work ownedby others, see our page aboutmarking third party content. Read more considerations forlicensorshere.
Rights other than copyright
Can I useCC licenses to license rights other than copyright?
CC licenses are copyright licenses, but the latest version of CC licensesalso cover certain other rights similar to copyright, includingperformance, broadcast,and sound recording rights, as well assui generisdatabase rights. You may apply a 4.0 license to material subject to any ofthose rights, whether or not the material is also subject to copyright. Notethat the scope of prior versions of CC licenses was more limited. You shouldrefer to ourlicense versions page for details.
Howdo Creative Commons licenses affect my moral rights, if at all?
As a general matter, all CC licenses preservemoral rights to the extentthey exist (they do not exist everywhere), but allow uses of the work in wayscontemplated by the license that might otherwise violate moral rights. If youapply a 4.0 license to your material, you agree to waive or not assert anymoral rights you have, to the limited extent necessary to allow the public toexercise the licensed rights. This is designed to minimize the effect of moralrights on licensees’ ability to use the work, and ensure that the license worksinternationally as intended. The attribution requirement contained in all ofour licenses is intended to satisfy the moral right of attribution, but it mustbe adhered to whether or not the applicable jurisdiction recognizes moralrights.
Earlier versions of the license are also intended tominimize the effect of moral rights on otherwise-permitted uses, but thelanguage in the licenses differs. Additionally, jurisdiction ports of earlierversions of CC licenses often contain versions of the moral rights languagedesigned to account for moral rights legislation in a particular jurisdiction.If you are applying a ported license to your work, you may wish to review themoral rights language in the particular license.
You can alsocompare how different jurisdictions have implemented thisprovision, orbrowse the license versions page to compare the treatmentof this issue across the different versions of the CC licenses.
Yes, you may offer material under a Creative Commons license that includes atrademark indicating the source of the work without affecting rights in thetrademark, because trademark rights are not licensed by the CC licenses.However, applying the CC license may create an implied license to use thetrademark in connection with the licensed material, although not in ways thatrequire permission under trademark law. To avoid any uncertainty, CreativeCommons recommends that licensors who wish to mark material with trademarks orother branding materials give notice to licensees expressly disclaimingapplication of the license to those elements. This can be done in the copyrightnotice, but could also be noted on the website where the work is published.
The following is an example notice:
“The text of and illustrations in this document are licensed by Red Hatunder a Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license(”CC-BY-SA”). . . . Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Shadowman logo,JBoss, MetaMatrix, Fedora, the Infinity Logo, and RHCE are trademarks of RedHat, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. For guidelineson the permitted uses of the Fedora trademarks, refer tohttps://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal:Trademark_guidelines.”
When you apply the latest version (4.0) of a CC license to your material,you also agree to waive or not assert anypublicity, privacy, or personality rights that you hold inthe material you are licensing, to the limited extent necessary for others toexercise the licensed rights. For example, if you have licensed a photograph ofyourself, you may not assert your right of privacy to have the photo removedfrom further distribution. (Under the 3.0 and earlier licenses, this is impliedbut not explicit.) If you do not wish to license these rights in this way, youshould not apply a CC license to the material where this is a concern.
If there are any third parties who may have publicity, privacy, orpersonality rights that apply, those rights are not affected by yourapplication of a CC license, and a reuser must seek permission for relevantuses. If you are aware of any such third party rights in the material you arelicensing, we recommendmarking the material to give notice to reusers.
Plagiarism involves the copying of someone else’s creation or ideas andpassing them off as one’s own without attribution to the original author.Plagiarism is generally a matter of ethics and is dealt with primarily throughsocial norms, ethics policies, academic standards, and codes of conduct.Plagiarism will usually give rise to professional or academic sanctions, andwill not necessarily be the subject of legal proceedings.
Copyright infringement is a matter of law and will give rise to legalsanctions. An action may be considered plagiarism but not copyrightinfringement and vice versa, or both at the same time. For example, copyingpart of a text and not crediting the author could be considered plagiarism inan academic context, but not copyright infringement if the reproduction isallowed under an exception or if the text is in the public domain (subject tothe application of moral rights). Conversely, copying part of a text withoutauthorization and without benefiting from an exception but with correctlycrediting the author could be copyright infringement but not plagiarism.
Creative Commons licenses are not designed to address issues that falloutside the scope of copyright law, although, when the licenses were firstdeveloped, Creative Commons expected that theattributionrequirement would contribute to reducing instances of plagiarism. Regardless,activities such as plagiarism are not directly governed by the application ofCC licenses. That said, the attribution requirement and the obligation toindicate modifications made to a work can alleviate authors’ concerns overplagiarism and serve to assist in the enforcement of attribution and citationin the scholarly and academic contexts.
For more information, read our blog postWhySharing Academic Publications Under “No Derivatives” Licenses isMisguided.
Business models
You may license your copyright or distribute your work under more than oneset of terms. For example, you may publish a photograph on your website, butonly distribute high-resolution copies to people who have paid for access. Thisis a practice CC supports. However, if the low-resolution and high-resolutioncopies are thesame work under applicable copyright law, permission undera CC license is not limited to a particular copy, and someone who receives acopy in high resolution may use it under the terms of the CC license applied tothe low-resolution copy.
Note that, although CCstrongly discourages the practice, CC cannot preventlicensors from attempting to impose restrictions through separate agreements onuses the license otherwise would allow. In that case, licensees may becontractually restricted from using the high-resolutioncopy, for example, even if the licensor has placed a CC license on thelow-resolution copy.
Creators and other rights holders may wish to check with theircollecting societybefore applying a CC license to their material. Many rights holders who aremembers of a collecting society can waive the right to collect royalties foruses allowed under the license, but only to the extent their societiesallow.
Collecting societies in several countries including Australia, Finland,France, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Taiwan, and the Netherlands take anassignment of rights from creators in present and future works and manage them,so that the societies effectively become the owner of these rights. (In Franceit is called a “mandate” of rights but has similar practical effect.) Creatorsin these jurisdictions who belong to collecting societies may not be able tolicense their material under CC licenses because the collecting societies ownthe necessary rights, not the creators. CC isworking with several collecting societies and runningpilot programs that allow creators to use CC licenses in somecircumstances.
If you are already a member of a collecting society and want to use CClicenses, you are welcome to encourage your collecting society to give you theoption of Creative Commons licensing.
Yes. One of our goals is to encourage creators and rights holders toexperiment with new ways to promote and market their work. There are severalpossible ways of doing this.
CC’sNonCommercial (NC) licenses allow rights holders tomaximize distribution while maintaining control of the commercialization oftheir works. If you want to reserve the right to commercialize your work, youmay do this by choosing a license with the NC condition. If someone else wantsto use your work commercially and you have applied an NC license to your work,they must first get your permission. As the rights holder, you may still sellyour own work commercially.
You may also use funding models that do not depend on using an NC license.For example, many artists and creators use crowdfunding to fund their workbefore releasing it under a less restrictive license. Others use a “freemium”model where the basic content is free, but extras such as a physical printedversion or special access to a members-only website are for paying customersonly.
For more information and ideas,ThePower of Open presents case studies of artists, businesspeople, andorganizations who use CC.
Alterations and additions tothe license
Can Iinsist on the exact placement of the attribution credit?
No. CC licenses allow for flexibility in the way credit is provideddepending on the medium, means, and context in which a licensee isredistributing licensed material. For example, providing attribution to thecreator when using licensed material in a blog post may be different than doingso in a video remix. This flexibility facilitates compliance by licensees andreduces uncertainty about different types of reuse—minimizing the risk thatoverly onerous and inflexible attribution requirements are simplydisregarded.
Can I change the licenseterms or conditions?
Yes—but if you change the terms and conditions of any Creative Commonslicense, youmust no longer call, label, or describe the license as a“Creative Commons” or “CC” license, nor can you use theCreative Commons logos, buttons, orother trademarks in connection with the modified license or your materials.Keep in mind that altering terms and conditions is distinct fromwaivingexisting conditions or granting additional permissions than those in thelicenses. Licensors may always do so, and many choose to do so using theCC+protocol to readily signal the waiver or additional permission on the CClicense deed.
CC does not assert copyright in the text of its licenses, so you arepermitted to modify the text as long as you do not use the CC marks to describeit. However, we do not recommend this. We also advise againstmodifying our licenses through indirect means, such as inyour terms of service. A modified license very likely will not be compatiblewith the same CC license (unmodified) applied to other material. This wouldprevent licensees from using, combining, or remixing content under yourcustomized license with other content under the same or compatible CClicenses.
Modifying licenses creates friction that confuses users and undermines thekey benefits of public, standardized licenses. Central to our licenses is thegrant of a standard set of permissions in advance, without requiring users toask for permission or seek clarification before using the work. This encouragessharing and facilitates reuse, since everyone knows what to expect and theburden of negotiating permissions on a case by case basis is eliminated.
Can I waive license terms orconditions?
Yes. You may always choose to waive some license terms or conditions.Material licensed under a CC license but with additional permissions granted orconditions waived may be compatibly licensed with other material under the samelicense. OurCC+ protocol provides a mechanism for facilitating thatgrant or waiver.
Yes. CC licenses are nonexclusive. Licensors always have the option ofentering into separate arrangements for the sharing of their material inaddition to applying a CC license. However, those different arrangements arenot “CC” or “Creative Commons” licenses.
Separate agreements: You may offer the licensed materialunder other licenses in addition to the CC license (a practice commonlyreferred to as “dual licensing”). For example, you may wish to license a videogame soundtrack under both a CC license and the GPL, so that it may be usedunder either set of terms. A reuser may then choose which set of terms tocomply with. Or, for example, you may offer your material to the public under aNonCommercial license, but offer commercial permissions to fee-payingcustomers.
Supplemental agreements: Problems arise when licensorsdesign those terms or arrangements to serve not as separate, alternativelicensing arrangements but as supplemental termshaving theeffect of changing the standard terms within the CC license. While you mayoffer separate terms and conditions to other parties, you should not do so insuch a way that would neutralize terms of the CC license.
Except in the limited situation wheremorepermissions are being granted or license conditions are waived, if theadditional arrangement modifies or conflicts with the CC license terms, thenthe resulting licensing arrangement is no longer a CC licensing arrangement. Toavoid confusing those who may mistakenly believe the work is licensed understandard CC terms, we must insist that in these instances licensors not use ourtrademarks, names, and logosin connection with their custom licensing arrangement.
It should be noted that any agreements you make with other parties only havean effect on the other parties to that agreement, and do not apply to anyoneelse receiving the licensed material. For example, if there are terms of usethat apply to visitors to your website on which you host CC-licensed material,your terms of use may apply to visitors to that website, but not to anyone whoreceives copies of the CC-licensed material elsewhere. Even for the visitors toyour website, any separate terms and conditions do not become part of thelicense—they remain a separate contractual agreement, and violation of thisagreement does not constitute copyright infringement.
After licensing
Please see our guide onWhat to do if YourCC-Licensed Work is Misused.
If someone has made an adaptation of your CC-licensed work in a way that youno longer wish to be associated with, the adapter must comply with a requestthat your name be removed. (See Section 3(a)(3) of CC 4.0 legal codes.)
If you believe that someone is using your work in a way that is violatingthe license terms——for example, not giving correct credit, or using an NC workcommercially, we have a guide on license enforcement here:What to do if YourCC-Licensed Work is Misused.
Do Ihave to provide my name? Can I ask that my name be removed?
As a licensor, you may choose to receive under any name that you wish, suchas a pseudonym or pen name, or you may choose not to be credited by name atall, and to publish anonymously. You do not have to be credited under yourlegal name. Most jurisdictions permit this, but you should check to be surethis is valid in your jurisdiction.
If someone has made an adaptation of your CC-licensed work in a way that youno longer wish to be associated with, the adapter must comply with a requestthat your name be removed. (See Section 3(a)(3) of CC 4.0 legal codes.)
The use ofanyeffective technical protection measures (such as digital rights management or“DRM”) by licensees to prevent others from exercising the licensed rightsis prohibited.
Not all kinds of encryption oraccess limitations are prohibited by the licenses. Forexample, sending content via email and encrypting it with the recipient’spublic key does not restrict use of the work by the recipient. Likewise,limiting recipients to a particular set of users (for example, by requiring ausername and password to enter a site) does not restrict further use of thecontent by the recipients. In these examples, these things do not prevent therecipient from exercising all of the rights granted by the license, includingthe right to redistribute it further.
If someone is applying effective technological measures to your CC-licensedmaterial that do restrict exercise of the licensed rights (such as applying DRMthat restricts copying), this is a violation of the license terms unless youhave chosen to grant this permission separately.
No. CC licenses grant permission to use the licensed material in any mediaor format regardless of the format in which it has been made available. This istrue even if you have applied a NoDerivatives license to your work. Once a CClicense is applied to a work in one format or medium, a licensee may use thesame work in any other format or medium without violating the licensor’scopyright.
What if I change mymind about using a CC license?
CC licenses are not revocable. Once something has been published under a CClicense, licensees may continue using it according to the license terms for theduration of applicable copyright and similar rights. As a licensor, you maystop distributing under the CC license at any time, but anyone who has accessto a copy of the material may continue to redistribute it under the CC licenseterms. While you cannot revoke the license, CC licenses do provide amechanism for licensors to ask that others using theirmaterial remove the attribution information. You shouldthinkcarefully before choosing a Creative Commons license.
For Licensees
Before using CC-licensedmaterial
CC offerssix corelicenses, each of which grants a different set of permissions. Before youuse CC-licensed material,you should review the termsof the particular license to be sure your anticipated use is permitted. Ifyou wish to use the work in a manner that is not permitted by the license, youshould contact the rights holder (often the creator) to get permission first,or look for an alternative work that is licensed in a way that permits youranticipated use. Note that if you use material in a way that is not permittedby the applicable license and your use is not otherwise permitted by anapplicable copyright exception or limitation, the license isautomatically terminated and you may be liable forcopyright infringement, even if you are eligible to have your rights reinstatedlater.
Before using material offered under a Creative Commons license, you shouldknow thatCC licenses only grant permissions needed under copyright andsimilar rights, and there may be additional rights you need to use it asintended. You should also understand that licensors do not offer warranties orguarantees about the material they are licensing unless expressly indicatedotherwise. All materials are licensed “AS IS” and a disclaimer of warrantiesapplies unless expressly provided otherwise. If you want to ask for a warrantyor guarantee about rights to use the material, you should talk with thelicensor before using it.
It depends. CC licenses do not license rights other than copyright andsimilar rights (which includesui generisdatabase rights in version 4.0). For example, they do not license trademarkor patent rights, or thepublicity, personality, and privacy rights of thirdparties. However, licensors agree to waive or not assert anymoral rights, publicityrights, personality rights, or privacy rights they themselves hold, to thelimited extent necessary to allow exercise of the licensed rights. Any rightsoutside of the scope of the license may require clearance (i.e., permission) inorder to use the work as you would like.
Additionally, creative works sometimes incorporate works owned by others(known as “third party content”), often used pursuant to a CC license or underan exception or limitation to copyright such as fair use in the U.S. You shouldmake sure you have permission to use any third party content contained in thework you want to use, or that your use is otherwise allowed under the laws ofyour jurisdiction, particularly in cases such as fair use where your right touse the content depends on the particular context in which you plan to useit.
All CC licenses contain a disclaimer of warranties, meaning that thelicensor is not guaranteeing anything about the work, including whether sheowns the copyright, has received permission to include third-party contentwithin her work, or secured other rights such as through the use of modelreleases if a person’s image is used in the work. Youmay wish to obtain legal advice before using CC-licensedmaterial if you are not sure whether you have all the rights you need.
In the somewhat limited circumstances where sui generis database rightsapply to your use, special conditions apply and there are more specificconsiderations you should be aware of. Under 4.0, sui generis database rightsare licensed alongside copyright, but the treatment in earlier versions of thelicense varies. A fuller explanation of these variations and relatedconsiderations is available in theDataFAQ.
Where can I findmaterial offered under a CC license?
If you are looking for material offered under a Creative Commons license,CC Search is a good startingpoint. There is also adirectory of organizations and individuals who use CClicenses. Some media sites, such asFlickr, have search filters for materiallicensed using CC’s licenses.
Be sure to confirm that the material you want to use is actually under a CClicense, as search results may sometimes be misleading.
Are Creative Commonsworks really free to use?
Yes. While many if not most CC-licensed works are available at no cost, somelicensors charge for initial access to CC-licensed works—for example, bypublishing CC-licensed content only to subscribers, or by charging fordownloads. However, even if you have paid an access charge, once you have acopy of CC-licensed material, you may make any further uses permitted by thelicense without paying licensing fees.
(If you wish to make uses that are not permitted by the license—for example,making acommercial use of an NC-licensed photo—the licensor maycharge for those additional rights.)
As a licensee, you should always read and understand the relevant license’slegal code before using CC-licensed material, particularly if you are usingmaterial that is licensed using aported license with which you are unfamiliar. Our portingprocess involved adapting the international licenses to the legal framework ofdifferent jurisdictions, and in that process slight adjustments may have beenmade that you should make yourself aware of in advance of using the material.You can find more information about the ported licenses in theJurisdiction Database.
There are currently no ported versions of 4.0, and we expect there will befew, if any, in the future. All official translations of the 4.0 internationallicenses are equivalent: you may substitute one for another depending on yourpreferred language.
However, the ported versions of 3.0 and earlier sometimes contain smalldifferences from the international license depending on the ways in which theyhave been adapted to their jurisdictions. For example, a handful of the portedlicenses contain provisions specifying which laws will apply in the event thelicensor chooses to enforce the license, and a few of the ported licensescontain forum selection clauses.
General license compliance
Contact the rights holders to ask for permission. Otherwise,unless an exception or limitation to copyright applies,your use of the material may violate the Creative Commons license. If youviolate the terms of the license, your rights to use the material will beautomatically terminated, and you may be liable forcopyright infringement.
You need to comply with the license terms if what you are doing wouldotherwise require permission from the rights holder. If your use would notrequire permission from the rights holder because it falls under an exceptionor limitation, such as fair use, or because the material has come into thepublic domain, the license does not apply, and you do not need to comply withits terms and conditions. Additionally, if you are using an excerpt smallenough to be uncopyrightable, the license does not apply to your use, and youdo not need to comply with its terms.
However, if you are using excerpts of CC-licensed material whichindividually are minimal and do not require license compliance, but togethermake up a significant copyrightable chunk, you must comply with the licenseterms. For example, if you quote many individual lines from a poem acrossseveral sections of a blog post, and your use is not a fair use, you mustcomply with the license even though no individual line would have been asubstantial enough portion of the work to require this.
Attribution
All CC licenses require users to attribute the creator of licensed material,unless the creator haswaived that requirement, not supplied a name, orasked that her name be removed. Additionally, you mustretain a copyright notice, a link to the license (or to the deed), a licensenotice, a notice about the disclaimer of warranties, and a URI if reasonable.For versions prior to 4.0, you must also provide the title of the work. (Thoughit is not a requirement in 4.0, it is still recommended if one issupplied.)
You must also indicate if you havemodified the work—for example, if you have taken anexcerpt, or cropped a photo. (For versions prior to 4.0, this is only requiredif you have created an adaptation by contributing your own creative material,but it is recommended even when not required.) It is not necessary to notetrivial alterations, such as correcting a typo or changing a font size.Finally, you must retain an indication of previous modifications to thework.
CC licenses have a flexible attribution requirement, so there is notnecessarily one correct way to provide attribution. The proper method forgiving credit will depend on the medium and means you are using, and may beimplemented in any reasonable manner. Additionally, you may satisfy theattribution requirement by providing a link to a place where the attributioninformation may be found.
While the attribution requirements in the license are the minimumrequirement, we always recommend that youfollow the best practices for the kind of use you aremaking. For example, if you are using scientific data marked with CC0, you arenot required to give attribution at all, but we recommend that you give thesame credit you would give to any other source—not because the license requiresit, but because that is the standard for letting others know the source of thedata.
The CC website offers somebest practices to help you attribute properly, and theCC Australia team has developed ahelpfulguide to attributing CC-licensed material (.pdf) in different formats. Notethat the attribution and marking requirements vary slightly among licenseversions. Seehere for a chart comparing the specific requirements.
Do Ineed to be aware of anything else when providing attribution?
Yes. You need to be careful not to imply any sponsorship, endorsement, orconnection with the licensor or attribution party without their permission.Wrongfully implying that a creator, publisher, or anyone else endorses you oryour use of a work may be unlawful. Creative Commons makes the obligation notto imply endorsement explicit in its licenses. In addition, if the licensor ofa workrequests that you remove the identifying credit, you mustdo so to the extent practical.
Additionally, when you are using a work that is an adaptation of one or morepre-existing works, you may need togive credit to the creator(s) of the pre-existing work(s),in addition to giving credit to the creator of the adaptation.
DoI always have to attribute the creator of the licensed material?
You must attribute the creator when you provide material to the public byany means that is restricted by copyright or similar rights. If you are usingthe material personally but are not making it or any adaptations of itavailable to others, you do not have to attribute the licensor. Similarly, ifyou are only distributing the material or adaptations of it within your companyor organization, you do not have to comply with the attribution requirement.Learnmore about when compliance with the license is notrequired.
Using licensed material
Does myuse violate the NonCommercial clause of the licenses?
CC’s NonCommercial (NC) licenses prohibit uses that are “primarily intendedfor or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation.” This isintended to capture the intention of the NC-using community without placingdetailed restrictions that are either too broad or too narrow. Please note thatCC’s definition does not turn on the type of user: if you are a nonprofit orcharitable organization, your use of an NC-licensed work could still run afoulof the NC restriction, and if you are a for-profit entity, your use of anNC-licensed work does not necessarily mean you have violated the term. Whethera use is commercial will depend on the specifics of the situation and theintentions of the user.
In CC’s experience, it is usually relatively easy to determine whether a useis permitted, and known conflicts are relatively few considering the popularityof the NC licenses. However, there will always be uses that are challenging tocategorize as commercial or noncommercial. CC cannot advise you on what is andis not commercial use. If you are unsure, you should either contact the rightsholder for clarification, or search for works that permit commercial uses.
CC has abrief guide to interpretation of the NC license that goesinto more detail about the meaning of the NC license and some key points to payattention to. Additionally, in 2008,Creative Commons published results from a survey onmeanings of commercial and noncommercial use generally. Note that the resultsof the study are not intended to serve as CC’s official interpretation of whatis and is not commercial use under our licenses, and the results should not berelied upon as such.
Can Itake a CC-licensed work and use it in a different format?
Yes. When any of the six CC licenses is applied to material, licensees aregranted permission to use the material as the license allows, whatever themedia or format chosen by the user when it is used or distributed further. Thisis true even in our NoDerivatives licenses. This is one of a very few defaultrules established in our licenses, to harmonize what may be different outcomesdepending on where CC-licensed material is reused and what jurisdiction’scopyright law applies.
This means, for example, that even if a creator distributes a work indigital format, you have permission to print and share a hard copy of the samework.
As with most copyright questions, it will depend on applicable law.Generally, to be different works under copyright law, there must be expressiveor original choices made that make one work a separate and distinct work fromanother. The determination depends on the standards for copyright in therelevant jurisdiction.
Under U.S. copyright law, for example, mechanical reproduction of a workinto a different formatisunlikely to create a separate, new work. Consequently, digitally enhancingor changing the format of a workabsent some originality, such asexpressive choices made in the enhancement or encoding, will not likely createa separate work for copyright purposes. The creative bar is low, but it is notnon-existent. Accordingly, in some jurisdictions releasing a photograph under aCC license will give the public permission to reuse the photograph in adifferent resolution.
The NoDerivs licenses (BY-ND and BY-NC-ND) prohibit reusers from creatingadaptations. What constitutes anadaptation, otherwise knownas a derivative work, varies slightly based on the law of the relevantjurisdiction.
Incorporating an unaltered excerpt from an ND-licensed work into a largerwork only creates an adaptation if the larger work can be said to be built uponand derived from the work from which the excerpt was taken. Generally, noderivative work is made of the original from which the excerpt was taken whenthe excerpt is used to illuminate an idea or provide an example in anotherlarger work. Instead, only the reproduction right of the original copyrightholder is being exercised by person reusing the excerpt. All CC licenses grantthe right to reproduce a CC-licensed work for noncommercial purposes (at aminimum). For example, a person could make copies of one chapter of anND-licensed book and not be in violation of the license so long as otherconditions of the license are met.
There are exceptions to that general rule, however, when the excerpts arecombined with other material in a way that creates some new version of theoriginal from which the excerpt is taken. For example, if a portion of a songwas used as part of a new song, that may rise to the level of creating anadaptation of the original song, even though only a portion of it was used andeven if that portion was used as-is.
No. When you receive material under a Creative Commons license, you may notplace additional terms and conditions on the reuse of the work. This includesusing effective technological measures (ETMs) that would restrict a licensee’sability to exercise the licensed rights.
A technological measure is considered an ETM if circumventing it carriespenalties under laws fulfilling obligations under Article 11 of the WIPOCopyright Treaty adopted on December 20, 1996, or similar internationalagreements. Generally, this means that the anti-circumvention laws of variousjurisdictions would cover attempts to break it.
For example, if you remix a CC-licensed song, and you wish to share it on amusic site that places digital copy-restriction on all uploaded files, you maynot do this without express permission from the licensor. However, if youupload that same file to your own site or any other site that does not applyDRM to the file, and a listener chooses to stream it through an app thatapplies DRM, you have not violated the license.
Note that merely converting material into a different format that isdifficult to access or is only available for certain platforms does not violatethe restriction; you may do this without violating the license terms.
Can Ishare CC-licensed material on password-protected sites?
Yes. This is not considered to be a prohibited measure, so long as theprotection is merely limiting who may access the content, and does not restrictthe authorized recipients from exercising the licensed rights. For example, youmay post material under any CC license on a site restricted to members of acertain school, or to paying customers, butyou may not place effective technological measures (includingDRM) on the files that prevents them from sharing the materialelsewhere.
(Note that charging for access may not be permitted with NC-licensedmaterial; however, it is not disallowed by the restriction on ETMs.)
Can I shareCC-licensed material on file-sharing networks?
Yes. All CC licenses allow redistribution of the unmodified material by anymeans, including distribution via file-sharing networks. Note that file-tradingis expressly considered to be noncommercial for purposes of compliance with theNC licenses. Barter of NC-licensed material for other items of value is notpermitted.
It is always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the terms andconditions that apply to any service you are using. Generally speaking, mostsocial media platforms allow users to keep the copyright they have in theircontent and ask users to grant them a copyright license to use that content forpurposes of providing their service. In some cases, platforms may also ask fora license to use your content in advertising and other promotions of theirservice. Creative Commons licenses do not allow sublicensing, which means youcannot grant a license to a platform with respect to the rights in anyCC-licensed content you do not own. For example, if you share on Facebook aCC-licensed image you downloaded from Flickr, you cannot grant Facebook anyrights to that image under copyright. However, it is unusual for social mediaplatforms to require you to own or control the copyright on all content youshare on their sites. Instead, they often simply require that you have therights to post it. As with content in the public domain or copyrighted contentyou are using under fair use or some other exception or limitation tocopyright, when you share third party CC-licensed content on a platform, youaren’t granting that platform any rights to the content under copyright. Whensharing CC-licensed content, always remember to provide proper attribution andotherwise comply with the relevant license conditions.
Don’t forget that a CC license only speaks to copyright, and there may beother rights (for example, privacy rights) that are relevant when sharing onsocial media.
Additional restrictionson licensed material
If you have received material under a CC license that is encumbered witheffective technological measures (such as digital rights management or DRM),you may or may not be permitted to break it, depending on the circumstances. Byreleasing material under a CC license, the licensor agrees not to assert anyrights she may have to prevent the circumvention of effective technologicalmeasures. (Under the 3.0 and earlier licenses, this is implied but notexplicit.) However, if she has uploaded it to a site or other distributionchannel that itself applies such measures, that site may have the right toprevent you from breaking them, even though the licensor herself cannot doso.
Note that anti-circumvention laws can impose criminal liability in somejurisdictions.
It is possible that CC-licensed material will appear on platforms thatimpose terms in addition to the copyright license (thoughCreative Commons strongly discourages restrictions thatinterfere with exercise of the licensed rights). These additional terms donot form part of the license for the work and may not be applicable todistributions of the work outside of the platform. For example, if you downloadCC-licensed material from a site that does not permit downloading, you may bebreaking the terms of use of the site, but you are not infringing the CClicense. See our guide toModifying the CC licenses for more guidance andinformation.
Combining and adapting CCmaterial
When is my use considered anadaptation?
Whether a modification of licensed material is considered anadaptation for the purposeof CC licenses depends primarily on the applicable copyright law. Copyright lawreserves to an original creator the right to create adaptations of the originalwork. CC licenses that allow for adaptations to be shared—all except BY-ND andBY-NC-ND—grant permission to others to create and redistribute adaptations whendoing so would otherwise constitute a violation of applicable copyright law.Generally, a modification rises to the level of an adaptation under copyrightlaw when the modified work is based on the prior work but manifests sufficientnew creativity to be copyrightable, such as a translation of a novel from onelanguage to another, or the creation of a screenplay based on a novel.
Under CC licenses, synching music in timed relation with a moving image isalways considered an adaptation, whether or not it would be considered so underapplicable law. Also, under version 4.0, certain uses of databases restrictedby sui generis database rights also constitute adaptations (called “AdaptedMaterial” in the 4.0 licenses), whether or not they would be consideredadaptations under copyright law. For more details about adaptations in thedatabase context, see theData FAQ.
Note that all CC licenses allow the user to exercise the rights permittedunder the licensein any format or medium. Those changes are not consideredadaptations even if applicable law would suggest otherwise. For example, youmay redistribute a book that uses the CCBY-NC-ND licensein print form when it was originally distributed online, even if you have hadto make formatting changes to do so, as long as you do so in compliance withthe other terms of the license.
Note on terminology: throughout these FAQs, we use the term“remix” interchangeably with “adapt.” Both are designed to mean doing somethingthat constitutes anadaptation under copyright law.
It depends. The first question to ask is whether doing so constitutes anadaptation. If the combination doesnot create an adaptation, then you may combine anyCC-licensed content so long as you provide attribution and comply with theNonCommercial restriction if it applies. If you want to combine material in away that results in the creation of an adaptation (i.e. a “remix”), then youmust pay attention to the particular license that applies to the content youwant to combine.
The NoDerivatives licenses do not permit remixing except for private use(the pre-4.0 licenses do not permit remixing at all, except as allowed byexceptions and limitations to copyright). All the other CC licenses allowremixes, but may impose limitations or conditions on how the remix may be used.For example, if you create a remix with material licensed under a ShareAlikelicense, you need to make sure that all of the material contributed to theremix is licensed under the same license orone that CC has named ascompatible, and you mustproperly credit all of the sources with therequired attribution and license information. Similarly,if you want to use a remix forcommercial purposes, you cannot incorporate materialreleased under one of the NonCommercial licenses.
The chart below shows which CC-licensed material can be remixed. To use thechart, find a license on the left column and on the top right row. If there isa check mark in the box where that row and column intersect, then the works canbe remixed. If there is an “X” in the box, then the works may not be remixedunless an exception or limitation applies. Seebelow for details on how remixes may be licensed.
If you makeadaptations of material under a CC license (i.e. “remix”),the original CC license always applies to the material you are adapting evenonce adapted. The license you may choose for your own contribution (called your“adapter’s license”) depends on which license applies to the original material.Recipients of the adaptation must comply with both the CC license on theoriginal and your adapter’s license.
- BY and BY-NC material
When remixing BY or BY-NC material, it is generally recommended that youradapter’s license include at least the same license elements as the licenseapplied to the original material. This eases reuse for downstream users becausethey are able to satisfy both licenses by complying with the adapter’s license.For example, if you adapt material licensed under BY-NC, your adapter’s licenseshould also contain the NC restriction. See the chart below for moredetails.
- BY-SA and BY-NC-SA material
In general, when remixing ShareAlike content, your adapter’s license must bethe same license as the license on the material you are adapting. All licensesafter version 1.0 also allow you to license your contributions under a laterversion of the same license, and some also allow ported licenses. (See thelicense versions page for details.) If you wish to adaptmaterial under BY-SA or BY-NC-SA and release your contributions under a non-CClicense, you should visit theCompatibility page tosee which options are allowed.
- BY-ND and BY-NC-ND material
The BY-ND and BY-NC-ND licenses do not permit distribution of adaptations(also known as remixes or derivative works), and prohibits the creation ofadaptations under the pre-4.0 versions of those licenses. Since you may notshare remixes of these materials at all, there is no compatibility with otherlicenses. (Note that the ND licenses do allow you to reproduce the material inunmodified form together with other material in a collection, as indicated inthe next FAQ.)
- Adapter’s license chart
The chart below details the CC license(s) you may use as your adapter’slicense. When creating an adaptation of material under the license identifiedin the lefthand column, you may license your contributions to the adaptationunder one of the licenses indicated on the top row if the corresponding box isgreen. CC does not recommend using a license if the corresponding box isyellow, although doing so is technically permitted by the terms of the license.If you do, you should take additional care to mark the adaptation as involvingmultiple copyrights under different terms so that downstream users are aware oftheir obligations to comply with the licenses from all rights holders. Darkgray boxes indicate those licenses that you may not use as your adapter’slicense.
| Adapter’s license chart | Adapter’s license | |||||||
| BY | BY-NC | BY-NC-ND | BY-NC-SA | BY-ND | BY-SA | PD | ||
| Status of original work | PD | |||||||
| BY | ||||||||
| BY-NC | ||||||||
| BY-NC-ND | ||||||||
| BY-NC-SA | ||||||||
| BY-ND | ||||||||
| BY-SA | ||||||||
Abbreviation Key
- BY =Attributiononly
- BY-ND =Attribution-NoDerivatives
- BY-NC-ND =Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
- BY-NC =Attribution-NonCommercial
- BY-NC-SA =Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
- BY-SA =Attribution-ShareAlike
- PD = Dedicated to or marked as being in the public domain via one of ourpublic domain tools, orother public domain material; adaptations of materials in the public domain maybe built upon and licensed by the creator under any license terms desired.
All Creative Commons licenses (including the version 4.0 licenses) allowlicensed material to be included in collections such as anthologies,encyclopedias, and broadcasts. You may choose a license for the collection,however this does not change the license applicable to the originalmaterial.
When you include CC-licensed content in a collection, you still must adhereto the license conditions governing your use of the material incorporated. Forexample, material under any of the Creative Commons NonCommercial licensescannot be usedcommercially. The table below indicates what type ofCC-licensed works you may incorporate into collections licensed for commercialand noncommercial uses.
| Original Work | Commercial Collection (BY, BY-SA, BY-ND) | NonCommercial Collection (BY-NC, BY-NC-SA, BY-NC-ND) |
| PD | ||
| BY | ||
| BY-NC | ||
| BY-NC-ND | ||
| BY-NC-SA | ||
| BY-ND | ||
| BY-SA |
License termination
When do Creative Commonslicenses expire?
Creative Commons licenses expire when the underlying copyright and similarrights expire.
Note that the relevant rights may expire at different times. For example,you may have a CC-licensed song where the rights in the musical arrangementexpire before the rights in the lyrics. In this case, when the copyright in themusic expires, you may use itwithout being required to comply with the conditions of the CClicense; however, you must still comply with the license if you use thelyrics.
The CC licenses are irrevocable. This means that once you receive materialunder a CC license, you will always have the right to use it under thoselicense terms, even if the licensor changes his or her mind and stopsdistributing under the CC license terms. Of course, you may choose to respectthe licensor’s wishes and stop using the work.
All of the CC licenses terminate if you fail to follow the licenseconditions. If this happens, you no longer have a license to use thematerial.
In the 4.0 licenses, your rights under the license are automaticallyreinstated if you correct this failure within 30 days of discovering theviolation (either on your own or because the licensor or someone else has toldyou). Under the 3.0 and earlier licenses, there is no automaticreinstatement.
If you have lost your rights under a CC license and are not entitled toautomatic reinstatement, you may regain your rights under the license if thelicensor expressly grants you permission. You cannot simply re-download thematerial to get a new license.
Note that you may still be liable for damages for copyright infringement forthe period where you were not in compliance with the license.
Technical Questions
The Creative Commons licenses havethree layers, as does theCC0 public domain dedication:the human-readable deed, the lawyer-readable legal code, and themachine-readable metadata. ThePublic DomainMark is not legally operative, and so has only two layers: thehuman-readable mark and machine-readable metadata.
When material is licensed using any of the CC licenses or tools, it ishighly recommended that aCC button, text, orother marker somehow accompany it. There are many possible modes for marking.For our licenses, people generally use theCC license chooser to generateHTML code that can be pasted into the webpage where the licensed material ispublished. CC0 and the Public Domain Mark have a separatechooser. Many platformsand web services such asFlickr andDrupal support CC licensing directly,allowing you to select an appropriate license. The service then properly marksthe work for you.
CC has published some best practices formarking your CC-licensed material, and recommends:
- Including a visual indicator (some combination of text and images) that thework is licensed with one of the CC licenses.
- Clearly indicating what material is covered under the CC license,especially if it’s presented alongside non-licensed materials.
- Including a link to the human-readable deed (which itself contains a linkto the legal code).
- Embeddingmachine-readable metadata in the code of the licenseindicator or code of the licensed page.
See themarking page for more details.
Creative Commons hasspecified CC REL as a way to associate machine-readablelicensing metadata with objects offered under CC licenses.
Before Creative Commons developed this vocabulary, it was difficult for amachine to ascertain whether an object was marked with a CC license. There wasalso no standard, predictable place to house metadata about that license (forexample, the source URL of the work or the required mode of attribution).
Machine-readable metadata based on well-accepted metadata standards createsa platform upon which new services and applications can be built. Software andservices can detect CC licenses and the details of that license, as describedby the metadata. For example, on many websites and search engines such asGoogle and Flickr, you can run filtered searches for works offered underspecific CC licenses. In addition, CC license deeds can automatically createcopy-and-paste attribution code so users may easily comply with the BYcondition of the licenses. When you click on a CC license orbutton from a page withlicense metadata, you get copy-and-paste attribution HTML within that licensedeed page. That HTML is based on available RDFa metadata in the originalmaterial.
All HTML provided by theCClicense chooser is automatically annotated withmetadata inRDFaformat.
What is RDFa?
RDFa is a method for embedding structured data in a webpage. For more information about RDFa, see the following resources:
- RDFa Primer: Bridgingthe Human and Data Webs
- RDFa.info
- RDFa Wiki
What is CCREL and why does Creative Commons recommend it?
Creative Commons RightsExpression Language (CC REL) renders information about licenses and worksmachine-readable through standards that define the semantic web. CreativeCommons wants to make it easy for creators and scientists to build upon theworks of others when they choose; licensing your work for reuse and findingproperly licensed works to reuse should be easy. CC recommends that you markyour licensed works with CC REL. The Creative Commons license chooser providesHTML annotated with CC REL, while the Creative Commons deeds recognize CC RELon web pages with works offered under a CC license, and use this metadata toenhance the deed for properly marked-up works, e.g., by providing copy andpaste HTML that includes work attribution.
For more background information on CC REL, please refer to thispaper.
What does itmean for a search engine to be CC-enabled?
Some search engines (likeGoogle) allow people tofilter their search results by usage rights so that you can limit your searchresults according to the particular CC license you seek. For example, if youare looking for a photo to adapt, you can filter your search to return photosthat have a CC license that permits creation of adaptations. You can generallyfind this search feature on the advanced search page of your selected searchengine. You can also useCCSearch, which offers a convenient interface to search and a list of thosecontent providers that support searches for content based on usage rights.
Please note, however, that you should always double check to make sure thatthe work you locate through a search is licensed as you wish.
Creative Commons provides tools for integrating license selection with yoursite. You can find an overview at the Web Integration article on theCC wiki. ThePartner Interfaceis a good way to get started and will always have the most up-to-date licenseversions and translations. However, there is also anAPI available if you want morecontrol.
Mozilla has included the Creative Commons search function in many versionsof Firefox along with search options for Google, Amazon, and other popularsites. Please take a look at theFirefox article onthe CC wiki for an explanation of how to change these features.
If you want to add or remove a particular search option, click on the logoin the search box (for example, the CC logo or the Google logo). This will openthe pull down menu, which will allow you to select different search providers.If you choose “Manage Search Engines,” you will be able to add or remove searchengines. You can also alter the order in which the search providers appear onthe pull down menu.
IsCreative Commons involved in digital rights management (DRM)?
No. CC licenses are a form of rights expression, not rights management. CCprovides tools to make it easier for creators and owners to say which rightsthey reserve and permissions they grant. This is different from digital rightsmanagement (or “DRM”), which uses technological protection measures to preventpeople from using the work in a way that the owner has not permitted.
CC licenses contain language prohibiting licensees from the use of effectivetechnological measures (including DRM) to prevent access to licensed material:”You may not offer or impose any additional or different terms or conditionson, or apply any Effective Technological Measures to, the Licensed Material ifdoing so restricts exercise of the Licensed Rights by any such recipient.”
While licensors may apply effective technological measures (ETMs) to theirown materials, the licensor provides alimitedpermission to circumvent these measures: “The Licensor waives and/or agreesnot to assert any right or authority to forbid You from making technicalmodifications necessary to exercise the Licensed Rights, including technicalmodifications necessary to circumvent Effective Technological Measures.” Notethat this only applies to effective technological measures applied by licensorsthemselves: third parties such as distribution platforms may still apply ETMsif the licensor uploads there, and the license is not able to grant youpermission to circumvent it.
Legal Background
What is copyright and whydoes it matter?
Copyright law grants exclusive rights to creators of original works ofauthorship. National laws usually extend protections to such worksautomatically once fixed in a tangible medium, prohibiting the making of copieswithout the rights holder’s permission, among other things. On the internet,even the most basic activities involve making copies of copyrighted content. Ascontent is increasingly uploaded, downloaded, and shared online, copyright lawis becoming more relevant to more people than it was 20 years ago.Unfortunately, infringing copyrights—even unintentionally or unknowingly—canlead to liability. Successful navigation of the internet requires someunderstanding of copyright law.
What is the public domain?
The public domain of copyright refers to the aggregate of those works thatare not restricted by copyright within a given jurisdiction. A work may be partof the public domain because the applicable term of copyright has expired,because the rights holder surrendered copyright in the work with a tool likeCC0, or because the work didnot meet the applicable standards for copyrightability.
Because the public domain depends on the copyright laws in force within aparticular territory, sometimes a work may be considered “in the public domain”of one jurisdiction, but not in another. For example,U.S. government worksare automatically in the public domain under U.S. copyright law, but mightbe restricted by copyright in other countries.
ThePublic Domain Manifesto,theUniversityLibraries page, and theCC0 FAQs all containadditional information about the public domain.
What do I need to do to get acopyright?
Copyright in most jurisdictions attaches automatically without need for anyformality once a creative work is fixed in tangible form (i.e. the minute youput pen to paper, take a photo, or hit the “save” button on your computer).
In some jurisdictions, creators may be required to register with a nationalagency in order to enforce copyright in court. If you would like moreinformation, please consult theBerneConvention oryourjurisdiction’s copyright law.
Although you do not have to apply a copyright notice for your work to beprotected, it may be a useful tool to clearly signal to people that the work isyours. It also tells the public who to contact about the work.
What is an adaptation?
An adaptation is a work based on one or more pre-existing works. Whatconstitutes an adaptation depends on applicable law, however translating a workfrom one language to another or creating a film version of a novel aregenerally considered adaptations.
In order for an adaptation to be protected by copyright, most national lawsrequire the creator of the adaptation to add original expression to thepre-existing work. However, there is no international standard for originality,and the definition differs depending on the jurisdiction. Civil lawjurisdictions (such asGermany andFrance)tend to require that the work contain an imprint of the adapter’s personality.Common law jurisdictions (such as theU.S. orCanada), on the otherhand, tend to have a lower threshold for originality, requiring only a minimallevel of creativity and “independent conception.” Some countries approachoriginality completely differently. For example,Brazil’scopyright code protects all works of the mind that do not fall within the listof works that are expressly defined in the statue as “unprotected works.”Consultyourjurisdiction’s copyright law for more information.
What are moral rights?
Copyright laws in many jurisdictions around the world grant creators “moralrights” in addition to the economic or commercial right to exploit theircreative works. Moral rights protect the personal and reputational value of awork for its creator. Moral rights differ by country, and can include the rightof attribution, the right to have a work published anonymously orpseudonymously, and/or the right to the integrity of the work. The moral rightof integrity may provide creators with a source for redress if an adaptationrepresents derogatory treatment of their work, typically defined as “distortionor mutilation” of the work or treatment that is “prejudicial to the honor, orreputation of the author.” Not all jurisdictions provide for moral rights.
The CC licenses are intended to minimize the effect of moral rights on alicensee’s ability to use licensed material; however, in some jurisdictions,these rights may still have an effect. CC offers some additional information onhow CC licenses may affect your moral rights.
What are neighboring rights?
Copyright provides an incentive to create works by providing exclusiverights to creators. However, the distribution or exploitation of a work ofteninvolves more than just the creator. For example, if someone writes a song,someone else may perform the song, and another may produce the recording of thesong. Some jurisdictions extend copyright to the contributions made by thesepersons; other jurisdictions extend such exclusive rights in the form ofneighboring rights. Neighboring rights may include performers’ rights orbroadcasters’ rights, among others. TheRomeConvention sets forth some guidelines on the scope of neighboring rights.Not all jurisdictions recognize neighboring rights.
What are sui generis databaserights?
Sui generis database rights grant qualifying database makers the right toprohibit the extraction and reuse of a substantial portion of a database. Therights are granted to database makers that make a substantial investment oftime and resources to create the database. Sui generis database rights areprimarily enacted within the European Union and a handful of otherjurisdictions.
What are collecting societies?
Collectingsocieties are copyright management organizations. Some examples ofcollecting societies include ASCAP and BMI (United States), BUMA/STEMRA(Netherlands), PRS (United Kingdom), and APRA (Australia). These societieslicense works on behalf of their owners and process royalty payments fromparties using the copyrighted works.
CC offers additional information onhow collecting societies might affect your rights and yourability to apply CC licenses to your work. CC has severalpilotsunderway with collecting societies that have chosen to allow their members touse CC licenses on a limited basis.
What are publicity,personality, and privacy rights?
These terms are used differently in different jurisdictions. Generallyspeaking, these rights allow individuals to control the use of their voice,image, likeness, or other identifiable aspect of their identity, especially forpurposes of commercial exploitation. Similarly, in some jurisdictions theserights allow people to restrict others’ ability to publish information aboutthem without their permission. Whether and to what extent these rights exist,and if so, how they are labeled, varies depending on the jurisdiction.
Creative Commons licenses have a limited effect on theserights where the licensor holds them. Where the licensor has publicity,personality, or privacy rights that may affect your ability to use the materialas the license intends, the licensor agrees to waive or not assert thoserights. However, any such rights not held by the licensor are not affected andmay still affect your desired use of a licensed work. If you have created awork or wish to use a work that might in some way implicate these rights, youmay need to obtain permission from the individuals whose rights may beaffected.
Data
This page supersedesDatabases and Creative Commons.
Much of the potential value of data is to society at large — more data hasthe potential to facilitate enhanced scientific collaboration andreproducibility, more efficient markets, increased government and corporatetransparency, and overall to speed discovery and understanding of solutions toplanetary and societal needs.
A big part of the potential value of data, in particular its society-widevalue, is realized by use across organizational boundaries. How does this occurlegally? Many sites give narrow permission to use data via terms of service.Much ad hoc data sharing also occurs among researchers. And increasingly,sharing of data is facilitated by distribution under standard, public legaltools used to manage copyright and similar restrictions that might otherwiselimit dissemination or reuse of data, e.g. CC licenses or theCC0 public domaindedication.
Many organizations, institutions, and governments are using CC tools fordata. For case studies about how these tools are applied, see:
:Uses of CC Licenses with Data and Databases :Uses of CC0 with Data and Databases
Frequently askedquestions about data and CC licenses
Can databases be releasedunder CC licenses?
Yes,CC licenses can be used to license databases. The mostrecent version (4.0) may be used to license databases subject to copyright and,where applicable, sui generis database rights. Sui generis database rightsprevent copying and reusing ofsubstantial parts of a database (including frequentextraction of insubstantial parts). However unlike copyright, database rightsprotect the maker’s investment, not originality.
CC does not recommend use of its NonCommercial (NC) or NoDerivatives (ND)licenses on databases intended for scholarly or scientific use.
In addition to our licenses, theCC0Public Domain Dedication may be used on databases to maximize reuse ofdatabases. When applied, the effect is to waive all copyright and relatedrights in the database and its contents, placing it as close as possible intothe worldwide public domain. In certain domains, such as science andgovernment, there are important reasons to consider using CC0. Waivingcopyright and related rights eliminates all uncertainty for potential users,encouraging maximal reuse and sharing of information.
Whena CC license is applied to a database, what is being licensed?
The license terms and conditions apply to the database structure (itsselection and arrangement,to the extent copyrightable), its contents (ifcopyrightable), and in those instances where the database maker hassui generis database rights then the rights that aregranted those makers. Notwithstanding, licensors can choose to license somerather than all of the rights they have in a database. Creative Commons advisesagainst this practice. However, if a licensor chooses to do so anyway, westrongly encourage licensors to clearly demarcate what is and is not licensed.Seebelow for more information regarding how to provide clearnotice of what is licensed.
How do I apply a CC legaltool to a database?
Before making a database available under a CC license, a database providershould first make sure she has all rights necessary to do so. Often, thedatabase provider is not the original author of the database contents. If thatis the case, the database provider should secure separate permission from theother author(s) before publishing the database under a CC legal tool. If adatabase maker decides to license the database without securing permission fromthe author(s) of the database contents, it should clearly indicate the materialfor which permission has not been secured and clearly mark the material as notbeing offered under the terms of the license. For more information, read ourpre-licensingguidelines.
Database providers should also consider carefully what elements of thedatabase she wants covered by the CC legal tool and identify those elements ina manner that reusers will see and understand. Please see ourmarking page for more information on how to clearlydistinguish unlicensed content.
Under version 4.0, if an NC license has been applied then any use of thelicensed database or its contentsthat is restricted by copyright law orsui generis database rights requires compliance with theNC term, even if the database is not publicly shared. Theother license elements (BY, ND, and SA, as applicable) must be complied withonly if your use is so restricted and public sharing is involved. Learn moreabout how to comply whenyour use implicates copyright and/orsui generis database rights.
Prior CC license versions do not require compliance with the licenserestrictions or conditions when only sui generis database rights (and notcopyright) are implicated. Please see below for more detail abouthow this works in the current andprior versions of the licenses.
Can I conducttext/data mining on a CC-licensed database?
Yes. However, you should be aware that whether you have to comply with theCC license terms and conditions will depend on whether the type of miningactivity you conduct implicates copyright or any applicable sui generisdatabase rights. If you are not exercising an exclusive right held by thedatabase maker, then you do not need to rely on the license to mine. Becausethere are many different methods for conducting text and data mining, however,there may be some types of mining activities that will implicate the licensedrights.
If and only if your particular use is one that would requirepermission, you should note the following:
- Permission: All six of the 4.0 licenses allow for text and datamining by granting express permission to privately reproduce, extract, andreuse the contents of a licensed database and create adapted databases.
- Commercial purposes: If you are conducting text and data miningforcommercialpurposes, you should not mine NC-licensed databases or other material.
- Outputs: If you publicly share the results of your mining activityor the data you mined, you should attribute the rights holder. If what youpublicly share qualifies as an adaptation of the licensed material, you shouldnot mine ND-licensed material. If you share an adaptation of material under anSA license, you must apply the same license to the adaptation thatresults.
Ifyour use is not one that requires permission under the license, you mayconduct text and data mining activity without regard to the aboveconsiderations.
As explainedabove, the current version of the CC license suite (4.0)licenses sui generis database rights in addition to copyright and other closelyrelated rights. Past versions of CC licenses operate differently with respectto sui generis database rights.
In the CC version 3.0 licenses, the legal treatment of sui generis databaserights varies, but the practical result is always the same: compliance with thelicense restrictions and conditions is not required where sui generis databaserights–but not copyright–are implicated. This means that if someone extracts asubstantial portion of a CC-licensed database and uses it in a way that doesnot implicate copyright (e.g., by rearranging purely factual data), the licensedoes not require her to attribute the licensor or comply with any otherrestrictions or conditions, even if the database is protected by sui generisdatabase rights.
While this result is the same across all CC version 3.0 licenses, the reasonfor this outcome varies. In the 3.0 licenses ported to the laws of EUjurisdictions, the scope of the licenses expressly cover databases subject tocopyright and/or sui generis database rights. However, the conditions of thelicense are explicitly waived when use of the licensed work only involves theexercise of database rights.
By contrast, the 3.0 unported licenses and all other ported licenses do notexpressly license sui generis database rights. As a result, those licenses donot apply when sui generis database rights alone are implicated. This means alicensee may need separate permission to use the database in a way thatimplicates sui generis database rights (although arguably an implied license toexercise those rights may be deemed granted in some jurisdictions).
More information on the underlying 3.0 policy decision the treatment of suigeneris database rights those licenses can be foundonour wiki (.pdf).
TheOpen DatabaseLicense (ODbL) and theOpen Data CommonsAttribution License (ODC-BY) are licenses designed specifically for use ondatabases and not on other types of material. There are many differencesbetween those licenses and CC licenses, but the most important to be aware ofrelate to license scope and operation. The ODC licenses apply only to suigeneris database rights and any copyright in the database structure, they donot apply to the individual contents of the database. The latest version of theCC licenses on the other hand apply to sui generis database rights and allcopyright and neighboring rights in the database structure as well as thecontents. (Seeabove for more detail about how past versions of CClicenses vary with respect to sui generis database rights.)
Another important difference is that ODC licenses may create contractualobligations even in jurisdictions where database rights would not otherwiseexist and but for the license permission would not be necessary. CC has craftedits licenses to ensure that theyneverimpose obligations where permission is not otherwise required to use thelicensed material.
Frequently askedquestions about data, generally
Whichcomponents of databases are protected by copyright?
With databases, there are likely four components to consider: (1) thedatabase model or structure, (2) the data entry and output sheet, (3) fieldnames, and (4) the data or other content.
Thedatabase model refers to how a database is structuredand organized, including database tables and table indexes. The selection,coordination, and arrangement of the database is subject to copyright if it issufficiently original. The originality threshold is fairly low in manyjurisdictions. For example, while courts in the United States have held that analphabetical telephone directory was insufficiently original to merit copyrightprotection, an organized directory of Chinese-American businesses in aparticular area did.1 These determinations are very fact-specific(no pun intended) and vary by jurisdiction.
Thedata entry and output sheets contain questions, and theanswers to these questions are stored in a database. For example, a web pageasking a scientist to enter a gene’s name, its pathway information, and itsontology would constitute a data entry sheet. The format and layout of thesesheets are protected by copyright according to the same standard of originalityused to determine if the database model is copyrightable.
Field names describe the contents or data. For example,“address” might be the name of the field for street address information. Theseare less likely to be protected by copyright because they often lack sufficientoriginality.
Thedata or other contents contained in the database aresubject to copyright if they are sufficiently creative. Original poemscontained in a database would be protected by copyright, but purely factualdata (such as gene names or city populations) would not. Facts are not subjectto copyright, nor are the ideas underlying copyrighted content.
When the database structure or its contents is subject to copyright,reproducing, distributing, or modifying the database will often be restrictedby copyright law. However, it is important to note that some uses of acopyrighted database will not be restricted by copyright. It may be possible,for example, to rearrange or modify the uncopyrightable data in a way that doesnot implicate the copyright in the database structure. For example, while (asnoted above) a court in the United States held that a directory ofChinese-American businesses was restricted by copyright, the same court went onto hold that a directory that duplicated hundreds of its listings was notinfringing because the listings were categorized and arranged in a sufficientlydissimilar way. In those situations, compliance with the license conditions isnot required unless the database contents are themselves restricted bycopyright.
Similarly, even where database contents are subject to copyright andpublished under a CC license, use of the facts and ideas embedded within thecontents will not require attribution (or compliance with other applicablelicense conditions), unless doing so implicates copyright in the databasestructure as explained above. Thisimportant limitation of all CC licensesis highlighted on the license deeds in the Notice section, where we emphasizethat compliance with the license is not required for elements of the materialin the public domain.
All CC licenses require that you attribute the licensor when your useinvolves public sharing. Your other obligations depend on the particular CClicense applied to the database. If it is a NC license, any regulated use mustbe limited tononcommercial purposes only. If a ND is applied, you mayproduce an adapted database but cannot share it publicly. If it is a ShareAlike(SA) license, you must apply the same or acompatible license to any adaptation of the database youshare publicly.
In contrast to copyright, sui generis database rights are designed toprotect a maker’s substantial investment in a database. In particular, theright prevents the unauthorized extraction and reuse of asubstantial portion of the contents.
When a database is subject to sui generis database rights, extracting andreusing asubstantial portion of the database contents is prohibitedabsent some express exception.
It is important to remember that sui generis database rights existin only a few countries outside theEuropeanUnion, such as Korea and Mexico. Generally, if you are using a CC-licenseddatabase in a location where those rights do not exist, you do not have tocomply with license restrictions or conditions unless copyright (or some otherlicensed right) is implicated.
Note that if you are using a database in a jurisdiction where you mustrespect database rights, and you receive a CC-licensed work from someonelocated in a jurisdiction without database rights, you should determine whetherdatabase rights exist and have been licensed. If so, you need to properly markand attribute as the license requires, since the person from whom you receivedthe database may not have been required to keep that information. If you areusing a licensed database and you do not have to comply with the license termsbecause such rights do not exist in your jurisdiction, we recommend that youretain this information where possible. Doing so assists downstream reusers whoare required to provide it when they share further.
What constitutesa “substantial portion” of a database?
There is no bright line test for what constitutes a “substantial portion”.The answer will depend on the law in the relevant jurisdiction. Note that whatconstitutes a substantial portion is determined both quantitatively andqualitatively. Also, using several insubstantial portions can add up to asubstantial portion.
If the database is released under the current version (4.0) of CC licenses,you must attribute the licensor if you share asubstantial portion of the database contents. The otherrequirements depend on the particular license applied to the database. Underthe NC licenses, you may not extract and reuse a substantial portion of thedatabase contents forcommercialpurposes. The ND licenses prohibit you from including a substantial portionof the database contents in another publicly shared database in which you havesui generis database rights of your own. And finally, the SA licenses requireyou to apply the same or acompatible license to any database you share publicly andin which you include a substantial portion of the licensed database contents.Note that this doesnot require you to ShareAlike anycopyright or other rights you have in the individual contents of thedatabase.
Artificial intelligence and CClicenses
The licenses grant permission for reuse in any situation that requirespermission under copyright. There are many ways in which CC-licensed work worksand even all rights reserved works can be reused without permission. Thisincludesusesthat are fair uses, for example.
If someone uses a CC-licensed work with any new or developing technology,and if copyright permission is required, then the CC license allows that usewithout the need to seek permission from the copyright owner so long as thelicense conditions are respected. This is one of the enduring qualities of ourlicenses — they have been carefully designed to work with all new technologieswhere copyright comes into play. No special or explicit permission regardingnew technologies from a copyright perspective is required.
CC’s copyright licenses are not universal policy tools. Copyright is theprimary obstacle to reuse that our licenses solve, but there are many otherissues related to the reuse of content that our licenses do not address andthat reusers should be aware of. These can includeprivacyand rules governing ethical research and the collection or use of data, whichhave to be addressed and respected separate and apart from the copyright issuesthat CC licenses cover.
It depends. First, keep in mind that CC licenses never limit uses thatcopyright doesn’t control. For example, as a general matter text and datamining in the United States is considered a fair use and does not requirepermission under copyright. This means that reusers engaged in text and datamining do not have to adhere to the marking and attribution requirements in ourlicenses for that activity even though we strongly recommend they do so anyway.A second example is linking. In some countries, linking to copyrighted contentdoesn’t require permission under copyright law, which means the CC licenseobligations do not come into play even though the linked content isCC-licensed.
Where a CC-licensed work is distributed as part of a database or dataset,and assuming copyright (or in the European Union, copyright or sui generisdatabase rights) is triggered, then the license conditions must be respected.This means providing the required attribution information in a way that isreasonable under the circumstances. Our licenses allow for some flexibility,and in some cases that may be as simple as providing a link to the websitewhere the relevant attribution information is provided. Visit ourmarkingpractices page for more information.
This depends on whether any of the uses made of the works by the company,whether for profit or non profit, are primarily intended for commercialadvantage or monetary compensation. This is hard to know without having all ofthe facts about how a work was used, whether internally by the company for itsown purposes or how the work was distributed for further use. Visit ourNCpage for more information about what constitutes commercial and noncommercial uses of works.
If NC-licensed content is redistributed to the public under an NC license,that distribution would not violate the NC clause. (Note that CC stronglydiscourages the use of any license terms other than a CC NC license forredistributions of NC-licensed content.)
CC licenses never require a reuser of a CC-licensed work to make theoriginal work or resulting works (collections, derivatives, etc.) publiclyavailable. There are lots of private reuses of works that are permitted by CC’slicenses that do not require compliance with their terms. Regarding ShareAlike,the condition only applies if a work is modified and if the work is sharedpublicly. In the situation where a reuser created a dataset of photos and madeit publicly available, and assuming copyright permission is required, then whatis released is likely a collection or compilation of pre-existing works. CClicenses do not require the collection or the compilation itself to be madeavailable under an SA license, even though each individual work is stilllicensed individually under an SA license and if they were modified by thedistributor the modified photo would need to be licensed under the same terms.For example, were Creative Commons to compile photographs from a photo sharingwebsite under a BY-SA 2.0 license and create a database that it then publiclydistributed, CC could license the collection as a whole under a BY license, butthe photographs would continue to be licensed under BY-SA 2.0.
Several remedies are potentially available. Some may be available if the CClicense terms have been violated, and others may be available through other,separate avenues because they involve other laws or regulations that the CClicenses do not cover. It’s important to remember, however, that absent aviolation of the license the permissions granted under thelicenseremain in place and cannot be revoked.
- Under the CC licenses, even if a license condition has not been violatedlicensors can ask that attribution to them be removed so they can distancethemselves from the reuse.
- For violations of a CC license term where the license was required (not afair use, etc.) then you may have a claim for copyright infringement.Fortunately, in the CC community most license violations are handled amicablywithout resorting to the courts.
- For claims involving laws and regulations other than copyright, recoursemay be available depending on your local laws.
An important starting point for any would-be sharer of content under a CClicense is to educate yourself in advance about how they work and what rightsthey do and do not cover. We have manyFAQs on our website. We alsoprovidehuman-readabledeeds with links to thefull text of ourlicenses. Additionally, all of our licenses highlight at the beginning manyconsiderationsthat licensors should have in mind before they license, and considerationsforreusersof works before they do so in order to avoid inadvertent violations.
Notes
Key Publications, Inc. v. Chinatown Today PublishingEnterprises Inc., 945 F.2d 509 (2d Cir. 1991).↩︎