The Creative Commons licensing movement was originally driven by the conflict between creators’ desire and ability to share works digitally on an unprecedented scale, and copyright regulations that had been devised long before the internet age.
In 1998, this came to a tipping point in the United States with the Sonny Bono CTEA (Copyright Term Extension Act) that actually added an additional 20 years to existing copyright law to end up with life of the creator + 70 years as the term.
This also came to be known as the “Mickey Mouse Act”.
1.1 The Story of Creative Commons by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
Following the passage of the CTEA, law professor Lawrence Lessig took a case brought by Eric Eldred (a web publisher who dealt with works in the public domain) that challenged the CTEA all the way to the Supreme Court. Lessig/Eldred lost the case, but did not concede the fight.
The legal defeat gave rise to the Creative Commons Movement, the creation of Creative Commons organization, and in 2002, the first Creative Commons Licenses.
1.1 The Story of Creative Commons by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
The Creative Commons organization is dedicated to the sharing of knowledge and culture worldwide and has developed and distributed a set of copyright licenses that are essential to this task. The licenses are known as Creative Commons Licenses.
Creative Commons Licenses are a set of free tools that are available to creators worldwide to share their work on far more flexible terms than the standard “all rights reserved” status that has been the norm. Creators can keep copyright and allow their works to be remixed, reimagined and shared on their terms for a much wider audience. Today there are over 2.5 billion works that have Creative Commons Licenses, encompassing the full spectrum of artistic endeavors.
There are many ways to get involved such as a creator or advocate (this could include OER textbooks in the education field, audiovisual mashups or remixes in the music and entertainment fields, or as a legal scholar and advocate for open culture).
1.2 Creative Commons Today by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
3 layers of a CC License:
Legal Code: The legal code provides the base of the CC license and ensure the license is legally viable and enforceable in court.
Commons Deeds: The deeds constitute the forward facing aspect of the CC Licenses. They provide a summary of the license for those of us who aren’t lawyers.
Machine Readable: CC licenses include a “machine readable” version of the license called CC Rights Expression Language (CC REL). This is metadata that can be attached to a CC Licensed work to make it discoverable by search engines (Google etc.)
The Attribution license or “CC BY”gives people the ability to use a work for any purpose (including commercial) as long as appropriate credit is give to the creator.
The Attribution-ShareAlike license or “BY-SA” allows people to change, use, and adapt a work, as long as appropriate credit is given to the creator. The adapted changes must also 4be shared under the same license as the original one.
The Attribution-NonCommercial license or “BY-NC”allows people to use the original work, or any remixed/reworked versions for noncommercial reasons exclusively, and with proper credit given to the creator.
The Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license or “BY-NC-SA” license permits individuals to use and modify the work solely for noncommercial purposes, provided they credit the original creator and distribute any adaptations under an identical or compatible license.
The Attribution-NoDerivatives (BY-ND) license permits individuals to use the original, unmodified work for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as they credit the creator. While they can modify the work for personal use, no adaptations can be shared publicly.
The Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (BY-NC-ND) license is the most constraining Creative Commons license. It permits individuals to use the original, unmodified work solely for noncommercial purposes, provided they credit the creator. While they may modify the work for personal use, they are not allowed to share any adaptations publicly.
3.3 License Types by Creative Commons CC BY 4.0
CC0 (Creative Commons Zero): A copyright tool that is similar to the Creative Commons Licensing in that CC0 uses design; including the deed, metadata and legal coding layers. It goes even further than the licenses and allows creators to take a “no rights reserved” approach. In countries where this is not allowed, CC0 has a fallback license that allows maximum freedom for new creators.
The Public Domain Mark provides a clear and identifiable way to identify works that are no longer restricted by copyright, making them easily accessible and discoverable for others. The mark does not remove copyright, but does show that the work is no longer under any known copyright protections.
Creative Commons recognizes an adaptation as a new creation that has originated from an already existing work or works.
Adaptation: For consideration as an adaptation, the new creation must have enough originality to be eligible for its own copyright. Some examples of this include a book that is adapted into a movie, an OER textbook chapter that combines multiple existing resources, or a translation of a novel into a different language.
Remix: A remix is one way to adapt a work creatively, or one of many possible adaptations. The key to the remix adaptation is that it must leverage two or more works into the new piece, also known as the derivative work. Some examples of remixes might include using the beat from one song and the melody of another two help create a third song.
Derivative: A derivative work is the product of the adaptation or remix that constitutes a new, original work within the bounds of copyright and CC Licenses.
4.4 Remixing CC Licensed Work by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
Licensing Remixes and Adaptations
The main point is to give all of the original works attribution no matter what the adaptation or remix is.
Licensing Considerations:
If the original work is using a ShareAlike license, your adaptation/remix must also be licensed using ShareAlike.
You can make changes for yourself to a work under a NoDerivatives license, but your adaptation can’t be shared with others per the terms of the license.
License compatibility is another important factor, which comes into play when deciding which kind of licensed works can be adapted into a new, derivative work.
4.4 Remixing CC Licensed Work by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
License Compatibility
Creative Commons Licenses by JoKalliauer. CC BY-SA 3.0
License compatibility is an essential (and slightly complicated) piece of creating and adapting CC works. When looking at the chart below, it might be helpful to remember that “green means go”. When the status of the original work is licensed under a BY-NC license for example, the adaptation can theoretically be licensed under BY-NC, BY-NC-ND, and BY-NC-SA with no problem. The licenses colored in yellow mean for BY-NC (BY, BY-ND, BY-SA, and PD) are technically permissible, but not recommended. In our example of the original work being licensed under BY-NC, using one of the licenses in yellow might require the adaptor to add that there are multiple copyright licenses being used in the adaptation. Further remixes/adaptations to the work will require adhering to the terms of all the previous licenses.
4.4 Remixing CC Licensed Work by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
CC Adapters License Chart by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
Another important part of license compatibility involves remixing/adapting multiple works with different licenses. The chart below shows us where works with different licenses can be remixed. For example, a work with a CC-BY-SA license can be remixed with a CC-BY work, but not at a CC-BY-ND work. It is recommended to choose the more limiting license when remixing multiple works.
4.4 Remixing CC Licensed Work by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
CC License Compatibility Chart by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0
