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U.S. copyright law protects a creator's rights over their original works. So when textbooks are written or a painting is made, the work is automatically protected by copyright. However, an author/artist/etc. can opt to publish their work with an open license that allows free sharing of their work. |
An open license is an essential part of an open educational resource. It is a license which grants permission for all users to access, reuse, and redistribute a work with few or no restrictions. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that provides licenses and public domain tools to address the legal issues surrounding copyright and enable the sharing of open resources.
There are 6 types of licenses overseen by Creative Commons:
CC BY |
Allows distribution, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any way so long as attribution is provided, including for commercial use. |
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CC BY-SA |
Allows distribution, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any way so long as attribution is provided, including for commercial use. Adaptations must be shared under the same terms. |
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CC BY-NC |
Allows distribution, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any way so long as attribution is provided, for non-commercial purposes only |
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CC BY-NC-SA |
Allows distribution, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any way so long as attribution is provided, for non-commercial purposes only Adaptations must be shared under the same terms. |
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CC BY-ND |
Allows copy and distribution of material in any medium, in un-adapted form only, with attribution, including commercial use. |
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CC BY-NC-ND |
Allows copy and distribution of material in any medium, in un-adapted form only, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes only. |
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CC 0 |
Work is in the public domain, it may be used, remixed, shared with no conditions, including no attribution necessary. |
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Creative Commons. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
There are two restrictions that are important to note when using Creative Commons Licenses:
In order to apply a CC license to your created work:
For digitally published work, use the CC License Chooser:
For printed works, include language:
© 2019. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
It is important to note, when reusing, remixing, revising, or redistributing a CC licensed resource, one must include attribution to the original work, including specifying which CC license was applied to the work.