Creative Commons Licenses

There are six Creative Commons licenses, which allow different levels of openness. You can learn much more about CC licenses on the Creative Commons website. The Creative Commons FAQ page is particularly helpful for detailed information about using the licenses. The licenses are organized below from the most amount of freedom to the least amount of freedom. The last two that contain ND (no derivative) are not considered open educational resources.

Choosing and Adding a CC License to Your Work

The Creative Commons website has a Chooser Tool to help you select a license for your work. This slideshow walks you through the process: Choosing and Sharing a CC License for Your Work

Attribution or CC BY

The Attribution or CC BY license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the original work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original creator. This is the most open and accommodating of licenses offered and is recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed material.

Attribution-ShareAlike or CC BY-SA

The Attribution-ShareAlike or CC BY-SA license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the original work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on the original will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

Attribution-NonCommercial or CC BY-NC

The Attribution-NonCommercial or CC BY-NC license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the original work, non-commercially. Any new works derived from a CC BY-NC licensed work must acknowledge the original creator and be non-commercial, but derivatives can choose to add on layers of restriction (SA or ND).

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike or CC BY-NC-SA

The Attribution-NonCommerical ShareAlike or CC BY-NC-SA license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the original work non-commercially, as long as they credit the original author and license their new creations under the exact same terms.

Attribution-NoDerivatives or CC BY-ND

The Attribution-NoDerivatives or CC BY-ND license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the creator(s). This license is not an Open Educational Resource because it cannot be changed in any way.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives or CC BY-NC-ND

The Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives or CC BY-NC-ND license is the most restrictive of the six main licenses, only allowing others to download and share the work as long as it is non-commercial and credit is given to the creator(s). This license is not an Open Educational Resource because it cannot be changed in any way.

Information about CC licenses was taken from About CC Licenses by Creative Commons and is licensed CC BY 4.0

More about CC Licensing

Sarah Davis created this detailed slide show as part of the Creative Commons certificate course. Accessible text equivalent of Infographic: A Little Introduction to Creative Commons Licenses.

Getting Help

Creative Commons licensing can be confusing. Luckily there are some great resources available to help you wrap your head around these ideas.

CC Legal Team Monthly Office Hours: These are held on the third Friday of the month to answer your questions related to openly licensed material. You must register for these events. Though lawyers can give you guidance, the information should not be considered legal advice in an official capacity.
CC Answer bot: The CreativeCommonsBot will try to answer questions about Creative Commons licensing. This tool was created by Benny Ng (chemistry faculty at Pierce College) and is licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0 unless otherwise noted.
CC Test your knowledge: The CCQuizBot will ask 5 multiple-choice questions about Creative Commons licensing. This tool was created by Benny Ng (chemistry faculty at Pierce College) and is licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0 unless otherwise noted.

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