What are Creative commouse Licenses

This video will introduce you to Creative Commons licenses, which makes copyright easier to understand.

Let’s say you create something.

This thing could be creative, like a picture of your cat, or scholarly, like an essay about cats.

Because you are the creator of this picture or this essay, copyright allows you to decide what people can do with your creation.

[Dialogue bubble appears on screen: X is okay but you shouldn’t do Y with my work.]

When you are the copyright holder, people have to ask you for permission before putting your cat picture into a PowerPoint or adapting your cat essay into a movie.

Getting permission can be time consuming and complicated for both the creator and the user.

[The following dialogue bubbles appear on screen: Who has copyright? How do I contact them?! I need to know if I can use this ASAP (as soon as possible)!]

This is where Creative Commons can help.

Creative Commons exists to make permissions explicit and straightforward.

Creative Commons licenses use icons and simple language so that creators can make their intentions clear and users can be certain that their use of a work is legal.

[Sample Creative Commons license displayed. The Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license has icons above the title. Below the title is the simple language section detailing what “You are free to” do in terms of sharing and adapting under this license]

These different licenses help people understand if and how they can use, share, or build on a work.

[The six different Creative Common licenses are displayed on screen]

This icon [Noncommercial] means that only non-commercial uses are permitted, so no one can profit from using your picture.

[Noncommercial icon has a dollar sign with a circle around it and a slash through it]

This icon [No Derivatives] means that no one can make changes to the original work, such as photoshopping a dog into your cat picture.

[No Derivatives icon is an equal sign with a circle around it]

This icon [Share Alike] means that someone can change your work, but their version must be shared under the same license as yours.

[Share Alike icon is a circle with an opening on the left side, the top side of the opening has an arrow pointing down to the where the circle begins again]

All Creative Commons licenses give credit to the original creator, preserving your reputation as a creative genius while the world engages with your work.

[Creative Commons license is displayed on screen with emphasis on the By icon (which is a the silhouette of a person with a circle around it)]

Licenses can be attached to most things, including blog posts, images, artworks, journal articles, and more!

To learn more about Creative Commons licenses, visit the Creative Commons website or check out some of the other videos in our series.