Data management: Licensing data

While your data per se are not copyrightable (data are considered "facts" that are discovered and not created as original works), your datasets (a creative arrangement, annotation, or selection of your data) can be protected by copyright. Copyrighting your datasets will help protect your work and ensure proper attribution. 

New to copyright?

See the SU Libraries' copyright guide.

Creative Commons (CC) offers a set of copyright licenses that enable you to give others the right to freely use, share, and build upon your  datasets. 
Use the Creative Commons license selector to choose a CC license based on your needs.
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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)

Copyright to your datasets can be owned by:

• you as the producer of your datasets;
• your institution or employer if you produced your datasets while employed (check into your employer's policies);
• research funders if you signed over copyright as a condition of funding.

Open Data Commons offers three licenses that you can use in conjunction with your data projects.
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Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL)
Allows you to waive all rights and place your dataset in the public domain.

Attribution License (ODC-By)
Allows others to use and reuse your dataset in any way they see fit as long as they provide attribution to the original source of the data.

Open Database License (ODC-ODbL)
Allows others to use and reuse your dataset in any way they see fit as long as they provide attribution to the original source of the data, redistribute their adapted version of your dataset under the same terms, and redistribute at least one version of the new product without technological measures that restrict the new product (such as DRM).

Note: The ODC-By and ODC-ODbL licenses can also be applied to factual data not protected by copyright. 

If your dataset leads to useful inventions,
it can be protected by the patent law. 

General Information Concerning Patents
(United States Patent and Trademark Office)

If your dataset offers a commercial advantage,
it can be protected by the trade secret law.

Trade Secret Policy (United States Patent and Trademark Office)