What is Creative Commons?
Creative Commons (CC) is a set of legal resources, a nonprofit organization, and a global network and movement. The premise is that since all new works are automatically copyrighted, creators who want to share their work need a standardized system for communicating how others are legally permitted to use their work. Thus, Creative Commons has created a set of open copyright licenses that anyone can attach to their work in order to communicate the copyright holder's rights and intentions to other people who want to reuse that particular work. It is about sharing materials in an open and mutually beneficial way. Find more information at the official Creative Commons tutorial website.
What are Creative Commons Licenses?
Creative Commons (CC) licenses are a set of licenses used by authors, publishers and multiple persons. The CC licenses are legal and have copyright protection, provided that licensors follow the rules for the selected license.
Creative Commons licenses use simple language and icons to communicate how other people can legally reuse a work. Click here to view a helpful video explaining the meaning of the four round Creative Commons icons. If you are reusing a work that has a CC license, you must follow the requirements of that particular license. For example, all CC licenses require that you give a clear attribution statement when you reuse the work. If you are a creator, you can insert these icons into or next to your own creative works for which you hold the copyright, so that others can know what ways they are legally permitted to reuse them.
These licenses work as part of the environment of copyright law, and do not conflict with fair use, copyright exceptions, or the ability to ask permission from the creator a work. Below is a diagram comparing the six types of attribution licenses that authors can use.
This diagram extracted from the infographic, "Creative Commons: Free Photos for Bloggers," originally posted by Fotor Blog, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Understanding the Design of a CC License
Four CC License Elements
There are four components, or elements, that make up a Creative Commons license.
= BY, or attribution 
= ND, or no derivatives
= SA, or share alike 
= NC, or non-commercial
Three CC License Layers
Each Creative Commons license has a unique three-layer design. Each license begins as a traditional legal tool. This is called the Legal Code layer of each license. Each license includes:
This image (click here for the source) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
The 6 Creative Commons Licenses
This is an additional guide describing the six licenses compared in the diagrams above.
CC BY: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
CC BY SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
CC BY NC: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and so long as attribution is given to the creator.
CC BY NC SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adopt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
CC BY ND: This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
CC BY NC ND: This license allows users to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
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The information for these licenses is under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
History of Creative Commons
Today, Creative Commons (CC) is a set of legal resources, a nonprofit organization, and a global network and movement for sharing creative works through a set of open copyright licenses (1). Hear are some recent events in the history of Creative Commons:
| 1998 |
The Sunny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CETA), commonly referred to as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, was enacted in order to extend the term of copyright for every work in the United States - even those already copyrighted. This change made the copyright term for individuals the life of the creator plus 70 years. Of note: The end of a copyright term marks when work can be used for any purpose without permission, so a limited copyright term ensures that copyrighted material will eventually move into the public domain - perpetuating new knowledge and creativity (2). |
| 2002 | Lawrence Lessing, Stanford Law Professor, found this new act to unconstitutional. Lessing and others created a nonprofit organization called Creative Commons and in 2002 published the Creative Commons Licenses - a set of free, public licenses that would allow creators to keep their copyrights while sharing their works with more flexible terms than the default "all rights reserved." The intent of these licenses was to address the tension between the creators right to share content publicly and copyright restrictions (2). |
| 2003 |
Eldred v. Ashcroft: In 2003 the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 1998 Sonny Bono CETA (3). Eric Eldred had made his career on making works available as they passed into the public domain. Lawrence Lessing represented Eldred, a web publisher (2). |
| 2022 | Today, CC licenses are widely used on the web and around the world. Since 2001, a global coalition of people has formed around Creative Commons and open licensing. Most of the people and institutions who are part of the CC movement are not formally connected to Creative Commons. There are approximately 2 billion works that CC licenses and public domain tools are used on today (4). |
(1) "What is Creative Commons" by Creative Commons. CC-BY
(2) "The Story of Creative Commons" by Creative Commons. CC-BY.
(3) "Eldred v. Ashcroft" by Wikipedia.
(4) "Creative Commons Today" by Creative Commons. CC-BY
