Creative Commons Licenses

Copyright operates by default under an “all rights reserved” approach. Creative Commons licenses (Links to an external site.) function within copyright law, but they utilize a “some rights reserved” approach. While there are several different CC license options, all of them grant the public permission to use the works under certain standardized conditions. The licenses grant those permissions for as long as the underlying copyright lasts or until you violate the license terms. This is what we mean when we say CC licenses work on top of copyright, not instead of copyright. 

The licenses were designed to be a free, voluntary solution for creators who want to grant the public up-front permission to use their works. Although they are legally enforceable tools, they were designed in a way that was intended to make them accessible to non-lawyers.

All Creative Commons licenses ensure that creators retain their copyright and get credit for their work while permitting others to copy and distribute it. Although the tools are designed to be as easy to use as possible, there are still some things to learn in order to fully understand their mechanics.