Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. CC licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators.

There are several types of CC licenses, which can be broadly divided into two categories: share-alike licenses and non-share-alike licenses.

Share-alike licenses require that any material derived from the licensed work must be shared under the same or a compatible license.

Non-share-alike licenses do not have this requirement.

Some of the most common CC licenses are the Attribution (BY) license, the Attribution-ShareAlike (BY-SA) license, and the Attribution-NoDerivatives (BY-ND) license.

The BY license allows others to use, share, and remix the work, provided they credit the creator.

The BY-SA license is similar, but also requires that any derivative works be shared under a compatible license.

The BY-ND license allows others to use and remix the work, but prohibits the creation of derivative works.

CC licenses are not copyright licenses, but they can be used in conjunction with copyright licenses.

For example, a creator who wants to release a work under a CC license can still use a copyright license to protect their work from unauthorized use.

Creative Commons licenses have been used to share a wide range of content, including music, articles, and educational materials.

CC licenses are also used by organizations such as Wikipedia and the OpenCourseWare Consortium.