What is Creative Commons?
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that offers a set of copyright licenses enabling creators to give people the right to freely use, share, and build upon their works.
Creative Commons licenses
Public Domain (CC0). Allows you to waive all rights and place your works in the public domain.
Attribution (CC BY). Allows others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). Allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND). Allows others to distribute your work, commercially or non-commercially, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC). Allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially. Although others must acknowledge you and use your work non-commercially, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
Attribution-NonCommecial-ShareAlike (CC NC-SA). Allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND). Allows 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.
(Adapted from creativecommons.org)
Creative Commons tools
- Creative Commons FAQsProvide basic information about CC licenses and often link to more detailed explanations
- Creative Commons license selectorEnables you to select a CC license based on your needs and preferences
- Creative Commons public domain toolsEnable creators and copyright owners to dedicate their works to the public domain. Facilitate the labeling and discovery of works that are already in the public domain