Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to
large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to
use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s
perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted
work answers the question, What can I do with this work?
The CC License options
There are six different license types, listed from most to least permissive here:
This
license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the
material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to
the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY includes the
following elements:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
This
license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the
material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to
the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt,
or build upon the material, you must license the modified material
under identical terms. CC BY-SA includes the following elements:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
This
license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the
material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and
only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC includes
the following elements:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
This
license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the
material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and
only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix,
adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified
material under identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following
elements:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
This
license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any
medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution
is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC
BY-ND includes the following elements:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
This
license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any
medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes
only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC
BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
The CC0 Public Domain Dedication
CC0
(aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool, which enables creators to
give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public
domain. CC0 enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon
the material in any medium or format, with no conditions.
Choosing a license
The six licenses and the public domain dedication tool give creators a
range of options. The best way to decide which is appropriate for you
is to think about why you want to share your work, and how you hope
others will use that work.
Before licensing
Before you apply a CC license or CC0 to your work, there are some important things to consider:
The licenses and CC0 cannot be revoked. This means
once you apply a CC license to your material, anyone who receives it may
rely on that license for as long as the material is protected by
copyright, even if you later stop distributing it.
You must own or control copyright in the work. Only
the copyright holder or someone with express permission from the
copyright holder can apply a CC license or CC0 to a copyrighted work. If
you created a work in the scope of your job, you may not be the holder
of the copyright.
See more pre-licensing considerations >
How to apply a CC license or CC0 to your work
CC-licensing your work is simple. All you have to do is choose the CC
license that suits your needs and then communicate this choice in a way
that will be clear to people who come across your work. As part of this
communication, you should include a link to the license you’ve chosen.
for further reading....https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/