creative commons licenses and legal tools

CREATIVE COMMONS IS

NOT A LAW FIRM AND DOES

NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE.

Aurelia J. Schultz

Counsel, Creative Commons

aurelia@creativecommons.org

CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES

AND LEGAL TOOLS

CC-BY Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a non-profit

organization that enables worldwide sharing

and reuse of creative works and knowledge

through free legal and technical tools.

Why Enable Sharing

• Technology changed how we interact

with copyrighted works and copyright

law

• We are all creators

• Many creators build off of others’ works

• Not all creators want all the rights

granted by copyright in every situation

How Sharing is Enabled

Free copyright tools make it easier for copyright

holders to exercise their rights

by

cutting out the middleman and getting the law out of

the way.

.

SOME RIGHTS RESERVED

4 License Elements

6 License Options

License Chooser

http://creativecommons.org/choose

License

Deed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Legal

Code

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Metadata

Searching for CC Licensed

Material

http://www.google.com/advanced_image_search

Nitty Gritty of the Licenses

Creative Commons Licenses

are Copyright Licenses

• Only license copyright elements, not things in the public domain or other rights like publicity or trademark

• Copyright exceptions and limitations are left in place

• License lasts for duration of copyright protection

• License is non-revocable

Creative Commons Licenses

are Copyright Licenses (cont.)

• Non-exclusive

• No sublicensing

• No warranties

• No choice of law or forum (international)

• No DRM can be added

• Automatic termination upon breach

Important for ShareAlike

• ShareAlike (SA) licenses require that derivative works

are licensed under the same or a compatible license

• Cross-jurisdiction compatibility

• Future compatible

• i.e. BY-SA 2.0 remixed work can be released under

BY-SA 3.0

• NOTE: version 1.0 is not compatible

• Other compatible licenses:

http://creativecommons.org/compatiblelicenses

Things Licensors Should Consider

• Standard things for any license: Is it

copyrightable? Do they have the rights to

the work?

• How broadly do they want to share? What

level of reuse?

• Which license suite?

• How do they want to be attributed?

Things Licensees Should Consider

• Does the desired use fit within license terms?

• Are there other rights implicated in the work, such

as publicity rights?

• Is attribution properly given?

• When remixing, consider things both from the

Licensee’s and Licensor’s point of view

Benefits

For Creators

• Increased sharing of

work, higher exposure

• See the creativity

inspired in others

through their remixes

• Full-choice on license

terms

• Time- and cost-saving

For Users

• Safe, legal reuse

• Build on works already

created, not reinventing

the wheel

• Easy to find and use

materials with low cost

• Access to knowledge

• Standardized license

terms

Other Legal Tools • CC0 – for putting works into the public domain

• Waives all rights to the extent possible

• http://creativecommons.org/choose/zero/

• PDM – for marking works already in the public domain

• To be used only on works that are in the public domain everywhere

• http://creativecommons.org/choose/mark/

More Information