Intellectual property covers anything that you have created such as:

• Inventions

• Artistic Works

• Designs

• Images

All intellectual property is protected by laws including patents, copyright and trademarks. These laws prevent others from using the original work without permission.

Copyright is the rights that the original owner of a creative piece of work has over that work.

The copyright law itself gives owners of creative work the right to earn income from their copyrighted work. It also prevents others using that copyrighted material without first seeking permission which limits the use of copyrighted work.

Many different types of content can be protected by copyright. Examples include books, poems, plays, songs, films, and artwork. In modern times, copyright protection has been extended to websites and other online content. Therefore, any original content published on the Web is protected by copyright law. This is important in the digital age we live in, since large amounts of content can be easily copied and pasted.

Creative Commons (CC) allows you to refine the rules of copyright so that you can share your work.

You can set rules such as:

• Commercial/Non-Commercial

• Link back to original

• Share future works

With creative commons you are not letting go of your rights but letting people share, remix and reuse work legally.

As of January 2016, 31 governments and 7 intergovernmental organizations have made their information available per CC according to creativecommons.org, similarly dozens of organizations from the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums).