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Creative Commons and Copyright

* This page gives a basic understanding of What is Creative Commons?

Assignment - Unit 3: Anatomy of a CC License

Creative Commons has its foundations in Copyright and has three layers, and six different types of licenses. 

  1. Each license begins with a foundational layer of traditional legal tools, in the kind of language and text formats that are understood by lawyers. This layer is often referred to as "lawyer-readable" code as it states the terms and conditions of the licenses that are legally enforceable in court. Example, the legal code of the CC BY license.
  2. Since most creators, and educators are not lawyers, the middle layer aims to explain the licenses in simple language that can be easily understood. This middle layer is known as the "common deeds" layer which explains the key license terms in a "human-readable" language. Even though this middle layer summarizes the legal code, they not legally enforceable. Example: the deeds for CC BY and CC BY-NC-ND licenses.
  3. The top layer recognizes the importance of technology in the creation, copying, and discovery, and distribution of works. This layer is referred to as the "machine-readable" layer and it allows software and search engines to recognize the Creative Commons license. The CC license builder page allows you to enter information to add personalized metadata:

CC License Elements

Creative Commons licenses provide creators with a greater degree of flexibility in making their works reusable and sharable. To abide by Copyright Law, all works used with Creative Commons licenses must provide credit to the licensor and the location of the work.

The following are the four elements that compose a Creative Commons license which can be combined in several different ways to create six unique Creative Commons licenses.

Attribution Attribution or "BY" symbol. This provides the most freedom as it states that the work 

 should include attribution. All CC licenses must include this condition.

 

NonCommercial  NonCommercial or "NC" symbol. The work is to be used for

  noncommercial purposes.

 

  ShareAlike or "SA" symbol. Adaptations must be licensed under the

  same license.

 

   NoDerivatives or "ND" symbol. Reusers cannot share adaptations 

  of the work.

 

The Six Creative Commons Licenses

There are six Creative Commons licenses that can be applied to works. These licenses are listed below from most to least permissive:

         

CC BY: This license allows users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. Basically this license allows people to use the work for any purpose even for commercial use.

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

CC BY-SA: This license allows users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format,  even for commercial use, as long as attribution is given to the creator and the modified work is licensed under the same terms.

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

CC BY-NC: This license allows users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. 

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

CC BY-NC-SA: This license allows users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format but with a noncommercial restriction. Attribution must be given to the creator and the new creation must be licensed the modified material under 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

CC BY-ND: This license allows users to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format. Materials under this license cannot be changed and must be used as is, but is it allows for commercial use as long as attribution is given to the creator.

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

CC BY-NC-ND: This license allows users to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format. This type of license does not allow for changes and is for noncommercial purposes only as long as attribution is given to the creator. 

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

 

Since works in the public domain are no longer protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws and are now owned by the public rather than an individual author or artist, CC licenses are not applicable to this works. Creators, however, can choose to place their work in the public domain by using Creative Commons licenses such as the CC0 (CCZero) Public Domain Dedication. CC0

A CC0 license basically means "No Rights Reserves" and allows the copyright holder to release their work in the public domain without any restrictions. It provides the choice to opt-out of copyright and database protection, and the exclusive rights automatically granted to creators.

 

Limitations & exceptions allow the public to use content without permission. In many countries these include permission for parody, criticism, access for visually impaired, and libraries. Many educational and classroom use falls under fair use, but there are many use cases that can be fair.

 

This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0