Copyright

The Creative Commons License

Creative Commons This link opens in a new window is a non-profit organization that has created a set of copyright licenses. Through the use of these licenses by copyright holders, Creative Commons intends to simplify the process by which copyright holders can give up some or all of the rights associated with their copyrighted material. These standard licenses help users quickly and easily determine how they may use covered content.

License Requirements

There are six basic Creative Commons Licenses based on four requirements of use. The following icons indicate the conditions that must be met to re-use a work:

Creative Commons Licenses

License Icon	License Meaning
	Attribution (BY): You may use the work as long as you give credit in the form the author requests, provide a link to the license, and indicate if you made any changes to the work.
	ShareAlike (SA): You must distribute your derivative work under the same license as the original work.
	Non-Commercial (NC): You cannot use the work for commercial purposes.
	NoDerivatives (ND): You cannot distribute modified versions of the work.

• Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative or exception to copyright, they are one way for copyright owners to distribute their work within the copyright framework. 
• CC allows creators to specify more flexible forms of copyright that allows "others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of their work."
• Look for copyright information (often at the bottom of webpages). Creative Commons licensed material sometimes displays clickable icons that indicate the specifics of licensing.  

See the Creative Commons website for more info on Licensing Types This link opens in a new window.

Web Sites Hosting Creative Commons Content