Creative Commons licenses requite everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright police. From the reuser's perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, "What tin can I do with this piece of work?"

The Creative Commons License Options

At that place are 6 different license types, listed from most to least permissive here:

  • CC BY: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the cloth in whatsoever medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial utilize.

CC By includes the following elements:
BY – Credit must exist given to the creator

  • CC BY-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, suit, and build upon the material in whatever medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, conform, or build upon the material, yous must license the modified fabric under identical terms.

CC BY-SA includes the post-obit elements:
BY – Credit must be given to the creator
SA – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms

  • CC Past-NC : This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes just, and only and so long as attribution is given to the creator.

It includes the post-obit elements:
BY – Credit must exist given to the creator
NC – Simply noncommercial uses of the work are permitted

  • CC By-NC-SA : This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and merely so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified fabric nether identical terms.

CC Past-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

  • CC BY-ND : This license allows reusers to re-create and distribute the fabric in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long equally attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial apply.

CC Past-ND includes the following elements:
BY – Credit must be given to the creator
ND – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted

  • CC BY-NC-ND : This license allows reusers to re-create and distribute the cloth in any medium or format in unadapted course only, for noncommercial purposes but, and only and then long equally attribution is given to the creator.

CC By-NC-ND includes the post-obit elements:
By – Credit must be given to the creator

NC – Simply noncommercial uses of the work are permitted
ND – No derivatives or adaptations of the piece of work are permitted

The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication

CC0 (aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool, which allows creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. CC0 allows reusers to distribute, remix, accommodate, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions.

Choosing a License

The half-dozen licenses and the public domain dedication tool give creators a range of options. The best mode to make up one's mind which is advisable for you is to think about why you want to share your work, and how you hope others will use that work.

For help, effort the Creative Eatables License Chooser .

Before Licensing

Before you employ 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 lot apply a CC license to your material, anyone who receives information technology may rely on that license for as long equally the material is protected by copyright, even if y'all later terminate distributing it.

You must own or control copyright in the work. Only the copyright holder or someone with express permission from the copyright holder tin apply a CC license or CC0 to a copyrighted work. If you lot created a work in the scope of your task, you may non exist the holder of the copyright.

See this folio for 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 practise is cull the CC license that suits your needs and then communicate this pick in a style that volition exist articulate to people who come across your work. Every bit part of this communication, yous should include a link to the license you've chosen.

This can exist as simple equally a flake of text stating and linking to the license in a copyright notice, like this:

© 2019. This piece of work is licensed nether a CC BY 4.0 license .

…or as circuitous as embedding the license information on your website using the HTML code associated with the particular license. Employ the Creative Commons License Chooser to get the relevant HTML code.