We’ve touched upon Creative Commons before on this blog in our post on finding free images. But what exactly is Creative Commons? And how does it work? In this post, we look at two things:
Our focus will be on those who want to use existing CC content for business or other commercial reasons. However, it’s equally useful to know about Creative Commons if you’re a creator, as it will allow you to share your work while still controlling how other people use it. Read on to find out more.
Before we get on to Creative Commons, let’s look at copyright. This term covers the laws about reproducing somebody else’s creative work.
If you’ve taken a photograph or written an academic paper, you will usually have copyright over it by default. This means that nobody else can sell, copy or distribute it without your permission. You can waive your claim to copyright, after which a work enters the public domain and anyone can use it for any reason. But this is where Creative Commons gives you other options.
This non-profit organization is dedicated to making creative and academic work easier to access. Perhaps the most famous examples of this are the Creative Commons licenses, which provide a free, simple way to control copyright permissions for something you’ve made.
As such, with a CC license, you can specify how your work is used.
With most copyrighted works, such as a stock photo from Getty Images, you will need to seek permission before using them. If you use them without permission, you will be in breach of copyright and liable for damages. As such, you will need to pay to use most copyrighted media.
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By comparison, CC makes it easier to find works that can be used for free. This is because certain CC licenses – see below for more detail – permit commercial use of the licensed work without having to seek permission.
However, all CC licenses come with conditions attached, such as crediting the creator. And some licenses do not allow commercial use. This makes it very important to understand the different CC license types.
There are four main conditions that define CC licenses. These are:
The six standard CC licenses based on these conditions are as follows:
If you plan to use a CC licensed work for your business or another project, then, make sure to check what the license type allows first.
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