Choose a Creative Commons License
If you want to share your content, photographs, or videos with the world, consider alternatives to the traditional copyright. One option is releasing your work into the public domain, which simply means anybody can do whatever they want with it. If you're looking for something less drastic, however, there are several licenses offered by a non-profit organization called Creative Commons that you can use for free. This article will help you choose the one that best suits your needs.
Contents
Steps
- Understand how a Creative Commons (CC) license affects your copyright. Most people think that by using a CC license, they are giving up their copyright, that the work no longer belongs to them, and that they won't be able to sell the work down the line. This is not the case. When you use a CC license, you're allowing others to use your work under specific conditions, but you remain the copyright holder.
- Let's say you have a photograph that you license under CC-BY-NC, which basically means that people can use it as long as they acknowledge you somehow, and only for non-commercial purposes (see a more detailed description in later steps). A non-commercial blogger uses it on their home page. Then a company approaches you about using the photo on one of their brochures, and they're willing to pay you so they can use it. Having licensed the photo under CC doesn't prevent you from doing that.
- Are you under any obligation to tell the company that you've licensed the work under CC? You should make it clear how your copyright operates on any work; it reduces the potential for misunderstandings and helps all potential users to do the right thing.
- Are companies less likely to want work that has been licensed with CC? This will depend on what the company wants to use the photo for; if you have limited the commercial use (for profit), then the company may not want to use it.
- Let's say you have a photograph that you license under CC-BY-NC, which basically means that people can use it as long as they acknowledge you somehow, and only for non-commercial purposes (see a more detailed description in later steps). A non-commercial blogger uses it on their home page. Then a company approaches you about using the photo on one of their brochures, and they're willing to pay you so they can use it. Having licensed the photo under CC doesn't prevent you from doing that.
- Understand your commitment. Once you assign a CC license to your work, you can always change it. But, if someone used your work under those terms before you changed it, you can't "take it back". Let's go back to the example of the photo. If you change the license to "all rights reserved", no one can use your image under CC terms from that point on. But the blogger who used it already can continue using the image, because he or she obtained it when the CC license was intact. In addition, if he or she licensed the image under CC (which would be required if you used a Share-Alike license) others can still use the image under those terms.
- Decide how you want to be attributed. All current Creative Commons licenses require that the person who uses your work acknowledges you in some way, though some legacy licenses do not. You can specify exactly how you'd like to be attributed. Which name should they use? Your username? Your first name? Your full name? For example, you might say: "Please attribute Molly Simonson as the creator of this work."
- Know why you might want use a creative commons license, as opposed to reserving all rights. Reasons for preferring the creative commons copyright include:
- The ability to give clear descriptions of the rights of the author(s) and the users
- Self-ability to give out licensing formulations which have been legally proven
- Ability to adjust the awareness level of the license
- The possibility (for others) to search for your content with most of the search-engines, when they support your license; and
- If you choose such a license, you could be sure, that your name is noted and that all materials, that are based on your work, are published under the same conditions (share alike).
- Examine the options. Each license variation has its own conditions and terms. These are:
- Do you want to allow modification to your work? To allow modification means that others can correct, actualize, improve and adapt the content. This ability to modify can help to ensure that the content will be used for longer and more often because people don't feel restricted by how they'll share and reuse it.
- If you decide to allow modification, you can choose the "share alike" option. This means, that every modification has to be published under the same license. Be aware though, that it is very hard for other content creators to reuse "share alike" content, if they like to mix up open content with a different license.
- Do you want to allow others to copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only? That means, that other people are not allowed to use the work for anything that has a commercial end. This might impact even those teaching in public schools or universities. It is good where you have concerns that a publisher might be interested, and you want such an entity to ask for permission to use it in a book or other format that he wants to sell.
- Do you want your name in every copy or modified version of the content? If you decide for the "attribution requirement", this can make a good marketing tool.
- Do you want to allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work? This means that the work has to contain the "share alike" condition.
- Do you want to let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it? No changes means using the no derivative condition.
- Do you want to allow modification to your work? To allow modification means that others can correct, actualize, improve and adapt the content. This ability to modify can help to ensure that the content will be used for longer and more often because people don't feel restricted by how they'll share and reuse it.
- Choose the license that best suits your purposes. Once you're certain of the conditions you'd like to apply (or not apply), you can choose the license that best reflects the mix. Here are your choices from the six main licenses:
- Attribution License: This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.
- Attribution Share Alike License: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.
- Attribution No Derivatives License: This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit given to you.
- Attribution Non-Commercial License: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
- Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.
- Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives License: This license is the most restrictive of the six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.
- Attribution License: This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.
Tips
- You can only use a CC license on works that can be copyrighted, such as: books, scripts, websites, lesson plans, blogs and any other forms of writings; photographs and other visual images; films, video games and other visual materials; musical compositions, sound recordings and other audio works. You cannot use one on ideas, factual information or other things that are not protected by copyright.
- There are eleven combinations of creative-commons licensing.
- When something has a creative commons license, you can use it in your creative commons work, but be sure to give credit where credit is due.
Related Articles
- Choose an Open Source License
- Avoid Copyright Infringement
- Apply the Creative Commons License to Flickr Photographs
- Attribute a Creative Commons Licensed Work
References
- This information is shared under a Creative Commons License.
