Module 2: Creative Commons Licenses

There are six basic Creative Commons licenses.

Links to an external site.

Attribution
CC BY

This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, 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. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

CC BY includes the following elements:
BY  – Credit must be given to the creator

View License Deed Links to an external site. | View Legal Code Links to an external site.

Attribution-ShareAlike
CC BY-SA

This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

CC BY-SA includes the following elements:
BY  – Credit must be given to the creator
SA  – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms

View License Deed Links to an external site. | View Legal Code Links to an external site.

Attribution-NoDerivs
CC BY-ND

This license lets others reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must be provided to you.

CC BY-ND includes the following elements:
BY  – Credit must be given to the creator
ND  – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted

View License Deed Links to an external site. | View Legal Code Links to an external site.

Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC

This license lets others remix, adapt, 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.

It includes the following elements:
BY  – Credit must be given to the creator
NC  – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted

View License Deed Links to an external site. | View Legal Code Links to an external site.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA

This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements:
BY  – Credit must be given to the creator
NC  – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted
SA  – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms

View License Deed Links to an external site. | View Legal Code Links to an external site.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:
BY  – Credit must be given to the creator
NC  – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted
ND  – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted

View License Deed Links to an external site. | View Legal Code Links to an external site.

Creative Commons also provides tools that work in the “all rights granted” space of the public domain Links to an external site..

The Creative Commons CC0 tool Links to an external site. allows licensors to waive all rights and place a work in the public domain.

"No known copyright." The Public Domain Mark Links to an external site. allows any web user to “mark” a work as being in the public domain.

This material by Creative Commons Links to an external site. is taken from Creative Commons Licenses Links to an external site. and from About CC Licenses Links to an external site. and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license Links to an external site.. Icons Links to an external site. by The Noun Project.