LibGuides: Copyright: Creative Commons

What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons is a system of Copyright licensing that allows the legal use and reuse of media. When you see a Creative Commons license, it means that the copyright holder of that work has decided to share their work with you—and with everyone else.

There are six different Creative Commons licenses:

Attribution
This licence lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon a work, even commercially, as long as they credit the creator for the original creation.
Attribution—noncommercial
This licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon a work non-commercially with credit to the creator (all new works must also be non-commercial).
Attribution—share-alike
This licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon a work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the creator and license their new creations under the identical terms.
Attribution—noncommercial share-alike
This licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon a work non-commercially, as long as they credit the creator and license their new creations under the identical terms.
Attribution—no derivatives
This licence allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the creator.
Attribution—non commerical, no derivatives
This licence is the most restrictive of the six main licences, only allowing others to download a work and share them as long as they credit the creator. They can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

Remember
Before using a work, always make sure you are using it in accordance with the terms of its Creative Commons licence. Otherwise, you may be violation of copyright.

Much of the license text and images used here are by TohaToha Aotearoa Commons, and are licensed under CC BY 3.0 Attribution. Some has been altered by the Wintec Library for clarity. Some of this material is based on material at www.creativecommons.org which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported licence.