{"id":44,"date":"2022-06-01T07:01:41","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T07:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openbook.ums.edu.my\/iotb\/chapter\/understanding-creative-commons-licences\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T04:32:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T04:32:32","slug":"understanding-creative-commons-licences","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/openbook.ums.edu.my\/iotb\/chapter\/understanding-creative-commons-licences\/","title":{"raw":"Understanding Creative Commons Licences","rendered":"Understanding Creative Commons Licences"},"content":{"raw":"Creative Commons licences offer creators a spectrum of choices between retaining all rights and relinquishing all rights (public domain), an approach we call \u201cSome Rights Reserved.\u201d [footnote]Creative Commons. (2021). Frequently asked questions. <\/em><\/span><\/span>https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/faq\/<\/span><\/span><\/a> CC BY 4.0<\/a>[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nThe video below explains how Creative Commons licences allow creators to modify copyright terms.\r\n\r\nCreative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand<\/strong> (5:32 mins)<\/span><\/span><\/em>\r\n\r\n[video width=\"852\" height=\"480\" webm=\"https:\/\/openbook.ums.edu.my\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/183\/2024\/09\/CreativeCommonsKiwi_480p.webm\"][\/video]\r\n\r\n(\"Creative Commons Kiwi\"<\/a> by\u00a0Creative Commons Aotearoa<\/a> New Zealand\u00a0is licensed under CC BY 3.0 New Zealand)<\/a><\/em>\r\n

Copyright and <\/strong>Creative Commons<\/strong><\/h1>\r\nCC licences are copyright licences, and depend on the existence of copyright to work. CC licences are legal tools that creators and other rights holders can use to offer certain usage rights to the public, while reserving other rights. Those who want to make their work available to the public for limited kinds of uses while preserving their copyright may want to consider using CC licences. Others who want to reserve all of their rights under copyright law should not use CC licences. [footnote]Creative Commons. (2021). Frequently asked questions. <\/em><\/span><\/span>https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/<\/span>faq<\/span>\/<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u00a0CC BY 4.0<\/a>[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nUsing a Creative Commons licence does not negate copyright \u2013 Creative Commons licences provide a means for a creator\/author to openly licence the use of their work to the public, while recognising their exclusive rights of copyright. [footnote]Moist<\/span>, S. (<\/span>n.d<\/span>). Faculty OER toolkit.<\/em> BC Campus. <\/span><\/span>https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/facultyoertoolkit\/<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0CC BY 4.0<\/a>[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nIn this short video Cable Greene, Director of Open Education at Creative Commons, provides an overview of what an open licence is and the impact it has on open educational resources, locally and globally.\r\n\r\nCable<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Green explaining Creative Commons and OER in 2 minutes<\/strong> (2:14 mins)<\/em><\/span><\/span>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/oLcVycFkmtM\r\n\r\n(\"Cable Green explaining Creative Commons and OER in 2 minutes\"<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0National Digital Learning Arena<\/a>\u00a0is licensed under\u00a0CC BY 4.0)<\/a><\/em>\r\n

The six licences<\/h1>\r\nThere are six different Creative Commons (CC) licence combinations that are a mix of four main licence conditions, all include the primary condition of Attribution. Understanding the meaning of each condition can be useful when deciding which CC licence to use on your own work or evaluating an open resource. [footnote]Gits, C. (2020). Texas Learn OER<\/em>. DigiTex\u00a0 https:\/\/sites.google.com\/austincc.edu\/texaslearnoer\/\u00a0CC BY 4.0<\/a>[\/footnote]\r\n

The licence conditions<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Core conditions<\/strong><\/td>\r\nApplication of condition<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"Attribution\r\n\r\nAttribution<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBY<\/td>\r\nThis applies to every Creative Commons work. Whenever a work is copied or redistributed under a Creative Commons licence, the original creator (and any other nominated parties) must be credited and the source linked to.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"NC\r\n\r\nNonCommercial<\/strong>\r\nNC<\/td>\r\nLets others copy, distribute, display and perform the work for noncommercial purposes only.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
 \r\n\r\n\"ND<\/strong>\r\n\r\nNo Derivative Works<\/strong>\r\nND<\/td>\r\nLets others distribute, display and perform only verbatim copies of the work. They may not adapt or change the work in any way.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
 \r\n\r\n\"SAShare Alike<\/strong>\r\nSA<\/td>\r\nAllows others to remix, adapt and build on the work, but only if they distribute the derivative works under the same the licence terms that govern the original work.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n(\"About the Licences\"<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Creative Commons Australia<\/a>\u00a0is licensed under\u00a0CC BY 4.0)<\/a><\/em>\r\n

Combining conditions<\/strong><\/h1>\r\nThe BY (attribution) condition is a part of all the licences, but not all of them work together. For example, the SA and ND conditions do not appear in the same licence because there is no reason to include the share-alike condition when no derivatives are being allowed. Together, the conditions form the six CC licences: [footnote]Gits, C. (2020). Texas Learn OER<\/em>. Digitex.https:\/\/sites.google.com\/austincc.edu\/texaslearnoer\/module-7-creative-commons-licensing-in-depth\u00a0CC BY 4.0<\/a>[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nCombining conditions<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Licence<\/strong><\/td>\r\nLicence description<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"CC\r\n\r\nAttribution: CC BY<\/strong><\/td>\r\nThis licence lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licences offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licenced materials.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"CC\r\n\r\nAttribution-ShareAlike: CC BY-SA<\/strong><\/td>\r\nThis licence lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and licence their new creations under the identical terms. All new works based on yours will carry the same licence, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the licence used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licenced projects.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"CC-BY-ND\"\r\n\r\nAttribution-NoDerivs: CC BY-ND<\/strong><\/td>\r\nThis licence lets others reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must be provided to you.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"CC\r\n\r\nAttribution-NonCommercial: CC BY-NC<\/strong><\/td>\r\nThis licence lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don\u2019t have to licence their derivative works on the same terms.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"CC\r\n\r\nAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA<\/strong><\/td>\r\nThis licence lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and licence their new creations under the identical terms.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"CC\r\n\r\nAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs\r\nCC BY-NC-ND<\/strong><\/td>\r\nThis licence is the most restrictive of our six main licences, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can\u2019t change them in any way or use them commercially.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n(Adapted from \"About the licenses\"<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Creative Commons<\/a>\u00a0is licensed under\u00a0CC BY 4.0)<\/a><\/em>\r\n

Choosing an open licence and combining licences for your original, remixed or adapted work<\/h1>\r\n

Choosing an open licence for your original, remixed or adapted work<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nWhen creating a work to share, carefully consider how you want your work to be used when considering applying an open licence . As the original creator of your work, you have choices.\r\n