Creative Commons – The Six CC Licences and the CC0 Dedication Tool
The CC license suite and CC0 public domain dedication offer creators a range of options. There are six different CC licenses that combine elements to allow or restrict certain activities.
These licenses work with traditional copyright to communicate in a standardized way what rights a creator wants to share. They are made up of four license elements: attribution, share alike, non-commercial, and no derivatives.
CC0
With six licenses and a public domain dedication tool, Creative Commons offers creators a wide range of options for sharing their work. Each option defines different levels of freedom and obligation for reusers. CC0, for example, allows creators to waive their copyright and put their works into the public domain worldwide. This allows reusers to distribute, remix and adapt the works without restriction.
Unlike the other five CC licenses, CC0 does not require that credit be given to the creator. However, attribution is often expected and appreciated. This is true, for instance, when the work is used in scientific research. Moreover, it is also required when the work is used in education and scholarship. Whether or not a requirement for attribution is enforceable depends on local law and jurisdiction.
CC0 is a universal legal tool that can be used by anyone who wants to communicate the voluntary surrender of their copyright and database rights, putting the content as close as possible into the public domain. The CC0 statement reads: “I, the affirmer of this work, hereby overtly, fully, permanently, irrevocably waive, abandon, and surrender my right to assert ownership of this work under copyright or related laws (including but not limited to United States Copyright Law)”. It does not affect any other rights held by others, such as neighboring or moral rights.
CC BY
Creative Commons provides standard licenses that anyone can apply to their work to make it easier for others to share and build upon them. These licences are not an alternative to copyright, but are a way to manage it.
All CC licences require that users credit the author (licensor) of a work, as well as any other parties designated to receive attribution, if they use the material in any way. This is an important part of a CC licence, as it ensures that the original creator is recognised for their contribution to society.
The CC BY licence also requires that any work that is modified is marked as such. This is designed to help users track changes made to a work and avoid confusion.
CC BY is the most commonly used licence for openly-licensed academic materials. Many scholarly journals now publish articles with CC BY licences. This allows their authors to distribute their work more freely, and helps the journals recoup their publication fees. This model has also been adopted by non-profit scientific societies that seek to maximise the impact of their research.
CC Attribution
CC Attribution is one of the license elements in the full set of Creative Commons public licences. It lets others distribute, remix, tweak and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. It is the most accommodating of the licences offered, and it is recommended for maximum dissemination and use of your work.
It is important to remember that CC Attribution does not replace, or override, copyright exceptions and limitations like fair use. It simply adds a requirement that you must credit the author and include a link back to the original source of the material when using it in any medium.
Unlike most other CC licenses, Attribution-NoDerivatives does not allow you to create modified versions of the original work (or derivative works). You may only make changes to the original work in two ways: a) conversion of format, such as changing a JPG to a PNG; and b) resizing. The exceptions to these restrictions are based on the principle that a remix is not a new work, but rather an attempt to bring together existing works into a cohesive whole. To form a CC Attribution caption, put your name or your organization’s name, the title of the work and its CC license number in a visible location on your website.