Creative Commons
In 2001, a group of lawyers and intellectual property experts began the process of creating a new kind of copyright law - it's called Creative Commons.
Suppose a creator of a work wants to retain ownership but allow some use of their work. That's where Creative Commons comes in. Creative Commons has established legal deeds that define exactly what kind of use is permitted of a work. As the Creative Commons website puts it - if copyright means "all rights reserved," Creative Commons means "some rights reserved." Utilizing a Creative Commons license allows creators to explicitly grant some rights of use without the need for requesting permission first.
There are a handful of Creative Commons Licenses to choose from. Each grants more or less permission for using a work under a few different conditions.
[Since the Creative Commons website itself has used its attribution license for its content, I will simply copy and paste their explanation of each type of license - since they've already given me permission to do so as long as I attribute the following content to Creative Commons.]
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.
Example: Jane publishes her photograph with an Attribution license, because she wants the world to use her pictures provided they give her credit. Bob finds her photograph online and wants to display it on the front page of his website. Bob puts Jane's picture on his site, and clearly indicates Jane's authorship.
Our core licensing suite will also let you mix and match conditions from the list of options below. There are a total of six Creative Commons licenses to choose from our core licensing suite.
Noncommercial. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work ... and derivative works based upon it ... but for noncommercial purposes only.
Examples: Gus publishes his photograph on his website with a Noncommercial license. Camille prints Gus' photograph. Camille is not allowed to sell the print photograph without Gus's permission.
No Derivative Works. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.
Example: Sara licenses a recording of her song with a No Derivative Works license. Joe would like to cut Sara's track and mix it with his own to produce an entirely new song. Joe cannot do this without Sara's permission (unless his song amounts to fair use).
Share Alike. You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
Note: A license cannot feature both the Share Alike and No Derivative Works options. The Share Alike requirement applies only to derivative works.
Example: Gus's online photo is licensed under the Noncommercial and Share Alike terms. Camille is an amateur collage artist, and she takes Gus's photo and puts it into one of her collages. This Share Alike language requires Camille to make her collage available on a Noncommercial plus Share Alike license. It makes her offer her work back to the world on the same terms Gus gave her.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
