Open Educational Resources @MJC

There are four elements that make up the six CC licenses. These are:

The first element is Attribution or "BY." This element must exist in each of the six licenses and stipulates that you must give credit to the author/creator.

This icon indicates Share Alike or "SA" and indicates indicates that you can adapt the work but must share it using the same licenses. Two CC licenses use this element.

This element means Non-commercial  or "NC" and indicates that you must use the work for non-commercial purposes. This element is in three of the CC licenses.

This icon represents the No Derivatives or "ND" element. This means that you cannot share adaptions of the work. Two of the CC licenses include this element.

"Icons" by The Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

"3.1 License Design and Terminology" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

You combine the four elements to make six different licenses. These are:

 The Attribution license or “CC BY” allows people to use and adapt the work for any purpose (even commercially) as long as they give credit to the creator. This is the least restrictive license. Each CC licenses builds upon this one.

The Attribution-ShareAlike license or “BY-SA” allows people to use and adapt the work for any purpose (even commercially), as long as they give credit to the creator and make any adaptations they share with others available under the same or a compatible license. 

The Attribution-NonCommercial license or “BY-NC” allows people to use the work, or adaptations of the work, for noncommercial purposes only, and only as long as they give credit to the creator.

The Attribution-NoDerivatives license or “BY-ND” allows people to use the unadapted work for any purpose (even commercially), as long as they give credit to the creator. They may also adapt the work for their own personal use but may not share any adaptations publicly at all, whether for public or private audiences.

The Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license or “BY-NC-SA” allows people to use and adapt the work for noncommercial purposes only, and only as long as they give credit to the creator and make any adaptations they share with others available under the same or a compatible license. 

The Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license or “BY-NC-ND” is the most restrictive CC license. It allows people to use the unadapted work for noncommercial purposes only, and only as long as they give credit to the creator. They may also adapt the work for their own personal use but may not share any adaptations publicly.

"Badges" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

"3.3 License Types" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

When you use a CC-licensed work, you need to attribute it, and 

When you create a work you want to share, you license your own work.

Before you use a CC licensed work, check the specific license to confirm that it will allow you to use it like you need to. Not sure?  Ask Iris Carroll for assistance

Using a CC-Licensed Work?

Remember that all CC licenses require that you give attribution to the creator. A great tool to help you create an attribution is the Open Attribution Builder from Open Washington.

Give Your OER a CC License

If you adapt a CC licensed work for your specific needs or create your own OER from scratch, you'll need to give your work a CC license. The Choose a License Tool will walk you through a few questions to help you determine which license to use. 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. 

"OER - Adapt & Create: Licensing" by Community College of Allegheny County Libraries is licensed under CC BY 4.0

"About CC Licenses" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

• It is important to remember why you are sharing and what you hope others might do with your work before making your CC license choice.
• One of the most important aspects of Creative Commons licenses is that they are standardized. This makes it much easier for the public to understand how the licenses work and what reusers have to do to meet their obligations.
• Creative Commons strongly discourages people from customizing open copyright licenses because this creates confusion, requires users to take the time to learn about how the custom license differs, and eliminates the benefits of standardization. If you change any of the terms and conditions of a CC license, you cannot call it a Creative Commons license or otherwise use the CC trademarks. This rule also applies if you try to add restrictions on what people can do with CC licensed work through your separate agreements, such as website terms of service. For example, your website’s terms of service can’t tell people they can’t copy a CC licensed work (if they are complying with the license terms). You can, however, make your CC licensed work available on more permissive terms and still call it a CC license. For example, you may waive your right to receive attribution.
• You can never change the legal terms that apply to someone else's CC licensed work.
• An original CC license on a work cannot be revoked. Remember, a CC license is valid for as long as the underlying copyright lasts or until you violate the license terms.
• Even though a creator cannot revoke a CC license applied to their work, they are free to also offer the work under a different license or remove the copy of the work they placed online. In those cases, anyone who finds the work under the original license is legally permitted to use it under those terms until the copyright expires. As a practical matter, reusers may want to comply with the creator’s new wishes as a matter of respect.

For more information, consult the Creative Commons FAQs For Licensors.

"4.2 Things to Consider after CC Licensing" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

There are times when a user does not need a copyright license nor a CC license to use a work.

These are:

• When  a work falls under fair use, fair dealing, or some other applicable limitation and exception to copyright, or
• When a work is in the public domain

Limitations & Exceptions to Copyright

By design, CC licenses do not reduce, limit, or restrict any rights under exceptions and limitations to copyright, such as fair use, fair dealing, or provisions for people with disabilities as the ones contemplated in the Marrakesh Treaty. If your use of CC-licensed material would otherwise be allowed because of an applicable exception or limitation, you do not need to rely on the CC license or comply with its terms and conditions. This is a fundamental principle of CC licensing. 

Public Domain Tools

Creative Commons licenses should not be applied to works in the worldwide public domain. All CC licenses are clear that they do not have the effect of placing restrictions on material that would otherwise be unrestricted, and you cannot remove a work from the public domain by applying a CC license to it. You can determine if a work is in the public domain by looking at this chart entitled, Copyright Term and Public Domain in the United States by Cornell University Library.

Creative Commons has two public domain tools that enable authors and copyright owners who want to dedicate their works to the worldwide public domain to do so, and facilitate the labeling and discovery of works that are already free of known copyright restrictions. The two public domain tools are represented by the icons below. 

These public domain tools are not equivalent to licenses:

No rights reserved or "CCzero" enables creators of copyright- or database-protected content to waive those interests in their works and thereby place them as completely as possible in the public domain. This choice allows others to freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under copyright or database law. CC0 gives creators the choice to opt out of copyright and database protections altogether, including the exclusive rights automatically granted to them, thus forming the “no rights reserved” alternative to CC licenses.

Public Domain Mark or "No Known Copyright" is a label used to mark works known to be free of all copyright restrictions. Unlike CC0, the Public Domain Mark has no legal effect when applied to a work. It serves only as a label to inform the public about the public domain status of a work and is often used by museums, libraries and archives working with very old works.

"3.2 License Scope" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

"3.1 License Design and Terminology” by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

"CC0" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

"Public Domain Mark" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0.