4 Creative Commons Licence Types
Learning Outcomes
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Identify each of the four optional licence elements (BY, SA, NC, ND) and explain in their own words what each permits or restricts.
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List the six main Creative Commons licences (Attribution [CC BY], Attribution ShareAlike [CC BY-SA], Attribution NoDerivatives [CC BY-ND], Attribution Non-Commercial [CC BY-NC], Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike [CC BY-NC-SA], Attribution Non-Commercial NoDerivatives [CC BY-NC-ND]) and match each to its element combination.
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Evaluate a given scenario (publishing a chapter, creating an educational video, adapting third-party material) and justify which Creative Commons licence (or set of licence elements) is most appropriate, taking into account reuse, adaptation and commercial/non-commercial use.
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Draft a correct attribution statement for a CC-licensed work (including title, author, source/link, licence) and explain how modifications to the original work should be noted.
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Communicate to peers or stakeholders (e.g., colleagues, students) how licence conditions affect the “openness” of a work, the possibilities for reuse and the institutional implications for repository deposit or open access publishing at Western Sydney University.
Selecting a Creative Commons Licence
As a creator of open content, you can choose the conditions of reuse and modification, with the following caveat:
When selecting a Creative Commons (CC) licence:
- Aim to retain your rights, and make your content as open as permitted (authors are encouraged to anticipate their future needs and to retain the rights they need to optimise the dissemination of their research)
- Consider other requirements, such as funder licensing and copyright restrictions for the IP or third-party copyright content used in your work.
For example:
You have grant funding, and your Funder stipulates a particular CC licence. Consider:
- When selecting third-party copyright content, you should only use content that enables you to meet your Funder licensing requirements.
- When you look for journals in which to publish, check that the Open Access journal offers the licensing required by your Funder; if it doesn’t, find another OA journal that does.
Optional Licence Elements
Along with the fundamental rights and obligations set out in each CC licence, there is a set of “optional” licence elements that the creator of the work can add.
These elements allow the creator to choose how they want the public to use their work. The creator can mix and match the elements to produce the CC licence they want. This process is a quick and straightforward way for creators to indicate how they wish their work to be used.
Each element has its own icon and abbreviation, making them easy to identify. There are four standard licence elements:
Table 5.1
Optional Licence Elements
| ICON | RIGHTS | DESCRIPTIONS |
 |
Attribution (BY) |
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — only if they give credit the way you request.You must attribute the original work when you create an adaptation. |
 |
ShareAlike (SA) |
Derivatives are licensed under the same or compatible licence as the original.By definition, the ShareAlike licences have very few compatible licences. |
 |
Non-Commercial (NC) |
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for non-commercial purposes only. |
 |
No Derivative Works (ND) |
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work – but not derivative works based on it.It lets you make and use changes privately – but you cannot share your adaptation with others.However, if the content is copied without changes, the copy is not considered a derivate. |
Credit. Text is a derivative of definitions provided in A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources by Commonwealth of Learning licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Six Standard Creative Commons Licences
The four Creative Commons licensing conditions can be combined to create six different license combinations. The table below lists these licences and the conditions attached to each.
- All six CC licences include the attribution (BY) element, meaning anyone using a resource with this licence must credit the author of the original work.
- Conversely, the Public Domain (CC0) licence does not require attribution.
- CC licences are written in the format “CC” followed by a space and then the relevant licence elements combined with hyphens.
- The licenses come in three formats: human-readable, lawyer-readable, and machine-readable.
Table 5.2
Six Main Creative Commons Licences
Creative Commons Licence Spectrum
The following chart depicts the spectrum of Creative Commons licences.
Figure 5.1
Creative Commons Licence Spectrum
The following short videos explain the six main Creative Commons Licences.
Credit. Creative Commons Kiwi [5:32] by Creative Commons Kiwi, licensed under CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ [and Creative Commons Kiwi video transcript (RTF download)].
Credit. Creative Commons Licensing Explained [3:45] by Max Noble, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed) https://www.youtube.com/t/creative_commons
Credit. Creative Commons Basics [1:36] by Pollack Library eLearning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Exercise 4.1
Exercise 4.2
Match the Creative Commons Licences
Use ‘click and drag’ to match the Creative Commons licences
