Creative Commons is a non-profit organization created by Stanford law professor, Lawrence Lessig, and a community of web bloggers who were sharing and remixing content online. They published a set of free licenses in 2002 that allowed creators to easily share works on more flexible terms than just "all rights reserved." These licenses are enforceable in court and intended to be used globally. Today, about 1.6 billion works are available across 9 million websites through Creative Commons licenses.
Creative Commons licenses address the tension between digital technology and copyright law. Content creators want to take advantage of digital technologies to share their work, but copyright law, being designed to delineate, maintain and control intellectual property rights, is inherently restricting. Creative Commons provides a set of flexible licenses to address this tension, allowing authors to share their work on their own terms while maintaining their copyright. As all Creative Commons licenses are copyright licenses, they are subject to the same limitations like fair use and the public domain.
In addition to being a non-profit organization and a set of copyright tools, Creative Commons is also a global network. The Creative Commons Global Network (CCGN) is a coalition of individuals, institutions, and contributors who share the vision and values of Creative Commons. The CCGN provides an overarching structure to coordinate activism around Creative Commons and issues like copyright reform and open education.
Attribution license or “CC BY”
Use the work for any purpose (even commercially or modified) as long as proper attribution is given
The least restrictive Creative Commons license
Attribution-ShareAlike license or “BY-SA”
Use the work for any purpose (even commercially or modified) as long as proper attribution is given
Any adaptations must be shared under the same license
Attribution-NonCommercial license or “BY-NC”
Use the work for noncommercial purposes only as long as proper attribution is given
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license or “BY-NC-SA”
Use the work for noncommercial purposes only as long as proper attribution is given
Any adaptations must be shared under the same license
Attribution-NoDerivatives license or “BY-ND”
Use the unadapted work for any purpose (even commercially) as long as proper attribution is given
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license or “BY-NC-ND”
Use the unadapted work for noncommercial purposes only as long as proper attribution is given
Most restrictive
CC0: Public Domain Dedication Tool
As a creator, you can use this tool to commit a work to the public domain before the copyright expiration date.
"No Rights Reserved”
This page can help you choose the Creative Commons license that is right for you:
"Copyright: Creative Commons" is a derivative of the Creative Commons Certificate Course by Creative Commons, licensed CC BY 4.0. Anthony Davis Jr. adapted content from the January 2020 Creative Commons Certificate Course for this page.
