Creative Commons: Anatomy of a CC-license

In addition to the licenses mentioned here, Creative Commons also has two public domain tools represented by the icons below.

The so-called CC0 tool, depicted with a cross-over zero, can be chosen by creators who wish to to dedicate their works to the worldwide public domain to the greatest extent possible. All possible rights they might have to the reproductions of those works are waiwered. You can use CC0 works in remixes as described in the tab about remix in this guide.

The Public Domain Mark depicted a crossed-over copyright sign, is a label used to mark works known to be free of all copyright restrictions or where copyright is not known. It serves only as a label to inform the public about the public domain status of a work and is often used by museums, libraries and archives working with old works. You can also use hese works in remixes.

All logos are reproduced from the Creative Commons website, link, reuse policy.

As explained, the 4 core license components can be combined to represent 6 unique licenses.

They are listed below from the least to the most restrictive license in terms of the freedom they grant reusers:

The Attribution license or “CC BY” allows use and adaption of the work for any purpose (even commercially) as long as you give credit to the original creator.

The Attribution-ShareAlike license or “BY-SA” allows for use and adaptation of the work for any purpose (even commercially), as long as you give credit to the creator and share any adaptations under the same or a compatible license.

The Attribution-NonCommercial license or “BY-NC”allows you to use the work, or adaptations of the work, for noncommercial purposes only, and only as long as you give credit to the creator.

The Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license or “BY-NC-SA” allows use and adaptation of the work for noncommercial purposes only. You must give credit to the creator and share any adaptations available under the same or a compatible license.

The Attribution-NoDerivatives license or “BY-ND” allows you to use the unadapted work for any purpose (even commercially), as long as you give credit to the creator. You may also adapt the work for your own personal use but you may not share any adaptations publicly.

The Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license or “BY-NC-ND” is the most restrictive license offered by CC. It allows you to use the unadapted work for noncommercial purposes only, and only when you give credit to the creator. You may also adapt the work for your own personal use but you may not share any adaptations publicly

All logos are reproduced from the Creative Commons website, link, reuse policy.