Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
What is Copyright?
literary works
sound recordings
architectural works
Several of these categories are directly applicable to content made
available online. When you create something truly original: a song, a
photo, a story, a blog post or a video, you automatically have an all-rights
reserved copyright for that work.
Creative Commons licensing can protect the original copyright and level of
permissions the author chooses. It can also perpetuate these rights (or not,
depending on the authors choice) and encourages and facilitates re-use and
sharing. Most importantly, it helps the author retain rights if they so choose,
and it helps the user to know exactly what the author wants done with his
content and how they can utilize it. As CC calls it, Some Rights reserved.
If instead you prefer to give up all rights to your work, it becomes No
Rights Reserved and part of Public Domain in which no law restricts the
way the works are used. Public domain is more commonly attributed to
works whose copyright licenses have expired, usually dozens of years after
the authors death. Each country has its own laws and validity lengths for
patents, trademarks and copyrights.
Here are the Creative Commons licenses. The licenses are iterations of
living licenses that are updated frequently and the version of the license
attributed to that work will be depicted with a number like 2.5. Attributing
the most current form of the license available is always recommended.
Each license has three components:
a Commons Deed which briefly explains the rights and rules of the
license
the Legal Code which should suffice as legal backing in the case
you need to go to court and is available in several languages
Attribution. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your
copyrighted work and derivative works based upon it but only if they
give credit the way you request.
Share Alike. You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a
license identical to the license that governs your work.
For example, an author combining the desire to make work available for noncommercial means but would like others to continue sharing their creations
as well might offer choose the following license:
Not sure which license is best for you? Use the Creative Commons
License builder to help you figure that out.
Once youve decided which license youre interested in, get that
licenses image button and copy theHTML code
and insert the code on your website or where youre publishing the
work.
How to Use Others Creative Commons Content
Not publishing any work to be shared through Creative Commons, but youd
like to utilize, share or build upon others work? Here are a few tips:
Look for Creative Commons Licenses: Most authors that are using
Creative Commons will know you know here are a few key places to look: in
the sidebar, at the bottom of the page, in the About page, or even on the
Contact page. If you dont see the information youre looking for, dont
hesitate to write the author about the type of license they have on their
work. They will appreciate your respect and effort.
Understand the License Details: You found the license, but make
sure you understand each component of the license by clicking-through and
reading the details of the license so you know the works opportunities and
limitations before you start using it.
Let the Author Know: Let the author know with more than just a link
back or listing their name tell them you enjoyed their work and appreciated
the fact that they made the available to the community.