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U.S. Copyright law dictates that each creator of a work owns the copyright to that work, meaning that all rights are reserved. That sounds great on the surface. What happens if a creator wants to share work with others and even wants to give others some rights to that work? Many creators want to share their works and the internet has made that desire fulfillable. However, U.S. copyright is "one size fits all". It maintains that creators own all the rights. Creative Commons recognizes this tenson and works to provide a way to comply with copyright law AND share works. |
Copyright History |
Creative Commons |
An Organization, Licenses and Movement |
| In 1998, the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) was enacted. It was originally called the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, but you may remember it being called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act because it was enacted just before Disney's Steamboat Willie was to enter into the public domain. The CTEA extended the copyright for every work for an additional 20 years, including works that were already produced. This means that now, copyright gives all rights to the creators of works for the creator's entire lifetime and then 70 after that. When that period ends, then a work enters the public domain. |
Lawrence Lessig, the eventual founder of Creative Commons, then a law professor at Stanford, thought CTEA was unconstitutional and unduly restrictive. He brought a suit with Plaintiff Eric Eldred that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 11, 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Eldred vs. Ashcroft in favor of the Defendant and CTEA remained intact. This motivated Lawrence Lessig to create a non-profit organization that helps to give alternatives to creators that want to share their work with others and allow others to remix and reuse their works while still complying with U.S. copyright laws. In this way, Creative Commons helps creators live in the modern world optimizing the sharing power of the internet to have more options with their copyrights other than "all rights reserved". |
Many others believe in the mission of Creative Commons. Since its birth in 2001, Creative Commons is not only an organization that stewards copyright licenses, it has also become a movement to continue the work of giving choice to creators in dictating who and how one can use their works. A creator can add a license from Creative Commons, like over two billion people have already done. A person can go to Creative Commons to obtain information about copyright law and how to be trained on how to use Creative Commons licenses. Those that have a passion for the mission of Creative Commons can also partake in the movement. Creative Commons has over 700 members with 45 chapters throughout the world. Open Education, Open GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums). The Creative Commons Global Network (CCGN) grows by the day. |
There are four characteristics that are applied to Creative Commons Licenses:
BYAttributed By This icon indicates the license is attributed by Creative Commons. All Creative Commons licenses carry this attribution. |
SAShare Alike This icon indicates the user must redistribute the creator's work under the same license in which the creator attributed it. 3 licenses carry this characteristic. |
NDNon Derivative This icon indicates the user is not allowed to make changes or adapt the creator's work and then redistribute that work. 2 licenses carry this characteristic. |
NCNon Commercial This icon indicates the user is not allowed to use the work for commercial purposes. 2 licenses carry this characteristic. |
There are six common types of licenses available.
CC BY This means: |
What can you do with this license? What: This license allows you to give permission to others to share and adapt: copy, redistribute, remix, adapt and build upon your work. Who: Any user, including commercial entities, can use your work. Users must:
NOTE: This license is recommended if you want to maximize the dissemination of your work as it is the "most accommodating of licenses offered". |
CC BY-SA This means: |
What can you do with this license? What: This allows you to give permission to others to share and adapt: copy, redistribute, remix, adapt and build upon your work. Who: Any user, including commercial entities, can use your work. Users must:
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CC BY-ND This means: |
What can you do with this license? What: This allows you to give permission to others to share: copy, redistribute your work. Who: Any user, including commercial entities, can use your work. Users must:
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CC BY-NC This means: |
What can you do with this license? What: This allows you to give permission to others to share and adapt: copy, redistribute, remix, adapt and build upon your work. Who: Any user can use your work, except for commercial purposes. Users must:
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CC BY-NC-SA This means: |
What can you do with this license? What: This allows you to give permission to others to share and adapt: copy, redistribute, remix, adapt and build upon your work. Who: Any user can use your work, except for commercial purposes. Users must:
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CC BY-NC-ND This means: |
What can you do with this license? What: This allows you to give permission to others to share: copy, redistribute your work. Who: Any user can use your work, except for commercial purposes. Users must:
NOTE: This license is considered the most restrictive of the CC licenses. |
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Any exception or limitation within U.S. copyright law also apply to Creative Commons licenses. And, as such, the licenses only apply to U.S. copyright law and do not cover such things as patents and trademarks. Copyright law directs who can copy and distribute the copies of works. That's it. If you aren't copying a work, your action isn't covered by copyright law. In turn, if you don't copy and distribute that work, then your action is not covered under copyright law. No law can prevent a person from reading, watching or otherwise consuming work that was previously copied and distributed. It only provides rules for copying and disseminating created works. |
Built into the description of the six types of licenses above, are the three layers of all Creative Commons Licenses.
Image Title: Three "Layers" of Licenses.
Image Source: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Image Link to License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Legal CodeLayer 1: |
Commons Deed
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Machine Readable to TechnologyLayer 3: |
There are two Creative Commons symbols that help users in the public domain.
Neither of these symbols are licenses, rather they serve as labels to provide information about the copyright status of works in the public domain.
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CC0 (CC zero) allows creators to put their work into the public domain in the greatest possible extent. This mark indicates the creator, or copyright holder, of a wok, such as a museum, is waiving all its rights over the work. |
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This is the public domain mark and is used to label works that are in the public domain so users are aware of the public domain status. |
If you would like some help selecting the proper license for your work, please visit the Creative Commons License Chooser.
References
About the licenses. (n.d.). When we share, everyone wins - Creative Commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Three "Layers" Of Licenses [Graphic Image]. (2014, June 20). Anatomy of a CC License. https://wikieducator.org/Creative_Commons_unplugged/Anatomy_of_a_CC_license
Public domain. (2016, July 6). Creative Commons. https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/
When we share, everyone wins. (2021, May 24). Creative Commons. https://creativecommons.org/
Creative Commons Licensing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.