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Copyright

A guide to copyright law as it relates to academic research, teaching, and publication.

What is a Creative Commons License?

Creative Commons helps you share your knowledge & creativity with the world.

Creative Commons licenses are a simple, standardized way to give others permission to share and use your work -- on conditions of your choice. You retain copyright of your work while allowing others to make limited uses.

Video Introduction to CC Licenses

Video Credit: Victor Grigas of the Wikimedia Foundation. 

This video is also available through the Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike License v 4.0

A short video (1 minute, 24 seconds) from Wikimedia introducing users to Creative Commons:

When you take a photo, make music or shoot a video it’s yours, you own it. You also own the copyright. Which means you decide how it is used and who can use it and if it can be copied and shared (or remixed). Creative Commons is a set of licenses that enable lawful collaboration to do things like copy, share and remix. Creative Commons is a way to give permission to everyone to freely reuse your creative works. Hundreds of sites use these licenses: Wikipedia, YouTube, Archive.org, Vimeo, Soundcloud, Flickr, Bandcamp, Boundless, Jamendo, TED, Musopen, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Free Music Archive, Freesound. Creative Commons makes us all more free to create.
 

Types of CC Licenses

There are six different CC licenses to choose from, ranging from least to most restrictive. Under each license, you retain copyright over your creation but allow others to use it under certain conditions.

CC License Types Others must credit you Others can distribute your work Others can modify and build on your work Others must license derivative work under identical conditions Others can use work for commercial purposes 

CC BY

Attribution

CC BY Logo.

Yes Yes Yes   Yes

CC BY-SA

Attribution-ShareAlike 

CC BY-SA Logo.

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

CC BY-ND

Attribution-NoDerivs

CC BY-ND Logo.

Yes Yes     Yes

CC BY-NC

Attribution-NonCommercial

CC BY-NC Logo.

Yes Yes Yes    

CC BY-NC-SA

Attribution-NonCommericial-ShareAlike

CC BY-NC-SA Logo.

Yes Yes Yes Yes  

CC BY-NC-ND

Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs

CC BY-NC-ND Logo.

Yes Yes      

Choosing a CC License

Creative Commons' license choosing tool can help you select the right license:

Choose a License