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7 Understanding Creative Commons Licence Compatibility

Before You Start Combining Licences

Video: Combining Creative Commons Licences for OERs [4:52] by Florida Virtual Campus is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

“Creator” Versus “User” Licences

You need to understand the different types of CC licences, as both a potential user and creator of OER.

  • As a potential OER user (adapter), you will review others’ OER for material to reuse. The terms of the licence will specify exactly how you may reuse the resource (Adapter’s licence).
  • As a potential OER creator [of original content], you will need to think about what types of reuse, modification, translation and remix of your work you will permit before you select your CC licence (Original licence).

Table 7.1

Licensing Rules for Adapting Creative Commons Works

Original Licence Applies to the Work Required Licence for Your Adaptation
BY or BY-NC Your adaptation must include the same licence elements as the original. For example, if you adapt a BY-NC work, you must apply BY-NC to your adaptation. If you adapt a BY work, you may apply BY or BY-NC.
BY-SA or BY-NC-SA Your adaptation must use the same licence as the original, or a compatible one.
BY-ND or BY-NC-ND You cannot distribute adaptations.

Licence Compatibility

Licence compatibility is the term used to address the issue of which types of licensed works can be adapted into a new work.

  • Simple scenario: When creating an adaptation of a CC-licensed work, the simplest scenario is when you take a single CC-licensed work and adapt it.

  • More complicated scenario: The more complicated scenario is when you are adapting two or more CC-licensed works into a new work.

For either situation, think about your options for licensing the copyright you have in your adaptation (your Adapter’s Licence).

Note. Your rights in your adaptation only apply to your own contributions. The original licence continues to govern the reuse of the elements from the original work that you used when creating your adaptation.

Remixing Charts

Chart 1. How Licences Can Be Combined

Use this chart to determine whether two licences are compatible and whether they can be combined.

Figure 7.1

CC License Compatibility Chart

CC License Compatibility Chart
Credit. CC License Compatibility Chart by Creative Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
How to use the chart

Find a licence that applies to one of the works in the left column and the licence that applies to the other work in the top right row.

  1. If there is a check mark (“√“) in the box where that row and column intersect, the works under those two licences can be remixed.
  2. If there is an “X” in the box, the work may not be remixed unless an exception or limitation applies.

Chart 2. Variation on the CC Licence Compatibility Chart

The CC Adapter’s Licence Chart is a variation on the CC Licence Compatibility Chart. Use this chart to determine which licence to apply to your own work (Adapter’s Licence) by comparing it to the original work.

Figure 7.3

CC Adapter’s Licence Chart

CC Adapter's Licence Chart
Credit. Figure 4.10. CC Adapter’s Licence Chart, adapted from Creative Commons, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en. Included in CAUL Open Educational Resources Professional Development Program: Foundations. Copyright © 2024 Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en, except where otherwise noted.

Chart 3. Selecting an Adapter’s Licence

Chart 3 is an alternative version of Chart 2. Use this chart to determine which licence to apply to your own work (Adapter’s Licence) by comparing it to the original work.

Figure 7.2

Adapter’s Licence Chart

Adapters Licence
Note. PD = Public Domain. Adaptations of materials in the public domain may be built upon and licensed by the creator under any license terms desired. Green boxes: OK to use this licence for your work. When creating an adaptation of material under the licence identified in the left-hand column, you may license your contributions to the adaptation under one of the licences indicated on the top row if the corresponding box is green. Yellow boxes: Technically permitted, but not recommended for your work. If the corresponding box is yellow, CC does not recommend using a licence. If you do use the licence, mark the adaptation as involving multiple copyrights under different terms so that downstream users know their obligations to comply with the licences from all rights holders. Grey boxes: Don’t use this licence for your work. Grey boxes indicate those licences you may not use as your adapter’s licence. Credit. https://creativecommons.org/faq/#can-i-combine-material-under-different-creative-commons-licenses-in-my-work

Licence

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

A Guide to Creative Commons Copyright © by Lucy Walton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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