Creative Commons (CC) is a premade license that creators can attach to their copyrighted works to indicate that they have waived certain rights. This allows anyone to reuse their copyrighted work without asking for permission, so long as they follow the conditions of the license.
Not all Creative Commons licenses are the same. Creators choose the conditions they wish to apply to their license. Only if the user wishes to go beyond these terms must they seek permission.
Conditions that can be attached to Creative Commons licenses include:
Attribution (by)
All CC licenses require that others who use your work in any way must give you credit the way you request, but not in a way that suggests you endorse them or their use.
Share Alike (sa)
You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify your work, as long as they distribute any modified work on the same terms.
Non Commercial (nc)
You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and (unless you have chosen NoDerivatives) modify and use your work for any purpose other than commercially.
No Derivatives (nd)
You let others copy, distribute, display and perform only original copies of your work.
No Rights Reserved (CC0)
You waive all of your copyright and related rights in your works to the fullest extent allowed by law.
It is important to remember that while Creative Commons allows for easy reuse of materials, it does not allow for unrestricted reuse. By its nature, CC is a license that includes legal terms and conditions which must be upheld by the user. Not meeting those terms and conditions could constitute a violation of copyright law.
While most people who attach a CC license to their work do so with good intentions to share it freely, there exist unethical people (known as "copyleft trolls") who take advantage of the more specific terms within the CC license to trap users with copyright violations. Essentially, there are specific attribution requirements built into the CC license, and not adhering to them leaves a user vulnerable to the trolls. Newer versions of the CC license have tried to combat the trolls with a remedy clause, but the best way to protect yourself is to simply attribute CC works correctly from the start.
1. Appropriate Credit
2. Link to the License (Direct link or url)
3. Indication of Any Changes Made (Including crops and excerpts)
"And I thought we were friends..." by hehaden, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
This attribution has the title of the photo and a link to the original, the creator's name, and the license named with a link.
The original did not provide a copyright notice or a disclaimer notice to include. No changes were made.
The Public Domain refers to works that do not have copyright protection and are free for the public to use. Generally, this is because the term of protection has expired. Works enter the public domain on January 1st of the year following the end of their copyright term (typically 95 years).
All works published before 1929 are in the public domain.*
The following works are also in the public domain due to laws at the time of their publication:
*Note that sound recordings have a different timeline for copyright expiration, due to their exclusion from federal copyright law until 1972. In 2018, the Music Modernization Act closed the existing gap and created a timeline for sound recordings published pre-1972:
Note also, that this only concerns recordings, not compositions or lyrics, which have the normal copyright term. For more information on sound recordings and the public domain, see this post from Duke.
Open Access refers to materials (usually digital) that are made freely available. It includes most of what you can legally find online without a paywall.
In academia, Open Access usually refers to scholarly articles, textbooks, and eBooks that do not require payment or subscription to read their full text. This is different from materials in our databases, which the library pays for. Often, the author of an Open Access work is the one who pays the publishing fees.
Open Access works are still protected by copyright! Just because something is freely available to see or read, does not mean it is free to use in your own work.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are course materials that are free for students to access and use.
Materials may either be created as OER or they may be licensed by the college, with one purchase providing access to all students.
There are many benefits to using OER. The greatest is affordability. Textbook costs can add up quickly for students and some may be unable to afford their books. Free textbooks are free!
All students will have immediate and unlimited access on the first day of class. Students will be more prepared.
Many OER also come with creative commons licenses, which are copyright permissions that allow instructors to modify, adapt, and edit the text, which gives you greater flexibility and control over the content.
Find more information on our OER & Textbook Affordability guide for faculty.
The following four workshops were offered during Open Access Week in October 2023.