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DCC Copyright: Creative Commons

What is a Creative Commons license?

A Creative Commons license is a public copyright license that allows for the distribution and potential reuse of an otherwise copyrighted work. Creators retain the copyright to their work while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of their work while still controlling whether that work is used commercially or not.

How does Creative Commons work?

Finding Resources in the Creative Commons

What are the Creative Commons license types?

Creative Commons License Types


Attribution CC BY License icon Attribution CC BY

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.
 

Attribution ShareAlike CC BY-SA License icon Attribution ShareAlike CC BY-SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. 
 

Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND License icon Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND 

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
 

Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC License icon Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC 

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
 

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA License icon Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA 

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
 

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND License icon Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND 

This license is the most restrictive of the six main Creative Commons licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.


This page was created using information from Creative Commons Licenses and Examples at https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/licensing-types-examples/licensing-examples/