Creative Commons licences are contracts through which, in a simple and standardised way, the author communicates which rights he reserves to himself and which he cedes for use to the users of his work according to the “some rights reserved” model.
Creative Commons (CC) licences are based on copyright and can be applied to any work protected by copyright. The basic prerequisite for being able to use a Creative Commons licence is to own all rights or to have explicit authorisation/request from the rights holder (e.g. the publisher).
In the world of digital communication where speeches at conferences, course texts, unpublished writings are disseminated and shared in real time on the web, CC licences allow the author to define the manner of use, the scope and its use.
Creative Commons licences (currently at version 4.0) are ideally structured in two parts.
The first part indicates the freedoms granted by the authors for their work:
Sharing: Freedom to copy, distribute or transmit the work
Re-elaborate: Freedom to re-adapt the work
The second part indicates the clauses on the use of the work and each is associated with a graphic symbol in order to make it easier to recognise:
BY Attribution: Allows others to copy, distribute, display and make copies of the work and derivative works of the work as long as the author of the work is indicated.
NC Non commercial: Permits others to copy, distribute, display and make copies of the work and works derived from it for non-commercial purposes only.
ND No derivative works: Permits others to copy, distribute, display and make only identical copies of the work; no derivative works allowed
SA Share alike: Allows others to distribute derivative works of the work only under a licence identical to or compatible with that granted with the original work
Each of these four clauses identifies a particular condition that the user of the work must comply with in order to be able to use it freely. The combination of these four clauses gives rise to the six Creative Commons licences in use:
|
Creative Commons Licences are defined by clauses (attributes) that determine the conditions of distribution The combination of the four clauses generates six types of licence |
||
|
CC BY Attribution |
It allows you to distribute, modify, create derivative works from the original, even for commercial purposes, provided that authorship is acknowledged. |
|
|
CC BY-SA Attribution ShareAlike |
It allows you to distribute, modify, create derivative works from the original, even for commercial purposes, provided that the authorship of the work is acknowledged and the new work is given the same licences as the original (therefore any derivative will be allowed for commercial use). |
|
|
CC BY-ND Attribution NoDerivatives |
Allows the original work to be distributed without modification, even for commercial purposes, provided that authorship is acknowledged |
|
|
CC BY-NC Attribution NoCommercial |
It allows you to distribute, modify, create derivative works from the original, provided you acknowledge the authorship of the work, but not for commercial purposes. Those who modify the original work are not required to use the same licences for derivative works |
|
|
CC BY-NC-SA Attribution NoCommercial- ShareAlike |
It allows you to distribute, modify, create derivative works from the original, but not for commercial purposes, provided that the authorship of the work is acknowledged and the new work is attributed the same licences as the original (i.e., any derivative will not be allowed for commercial use). |
|
|
CC BY-NC-ND Attribution NoCommercial-NoDerivatives |
This licence is the most restrictive: it only allows original works to be downloaded and shared on the condition that they are not modified or used for commercial purposes, always attributing authorship of the work to the author |
|
You can use the Creative Commons License Chooser to choose the licence to associate with your work according to your needs: by answering a few simple questions, the system automatically generates the icon to be copied and placed on your work (also copy the link to the chosen Licence).
With a CC0-type licence, the authors consciously waive all rights to their work. How this type of licence works and how effective it depends on the type of work and the relevant regulations, but in general it acts as an unconditional waiver of their rights to their work, which automatically becomes public domain.
(from: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)