Copyright Questions of the Month. Creative Commons vs. Copyright Law

by Carol Simpson, August 2016

Q: What is the difference between Creative Commons and copyright law? Is the Creative Commons license legal?

A: Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org) is a nonprofit organization that helps creators share their creative works through a set of legal licenses drafted in accordance with copyright law. One of the ways a creator can allow others to use a creative work is to give the user a "license" to use the work. A license is similar to a permission form that outlines exactly what the user may do with the work being licensed. Creative Commons has drafted a set of boilerplate licenses that incorporate several common requests for use of copyrighted materials so that the copyright owner can simply and easily provide a license without having to consult an attorney specializing in intellectual property to draft such an agreement.

Creative Commons licenses come in seven forms, depending on the ways the owner wishes to authorize use of the copyrighted work. The licenses are:

1. Attribution
2. Attribution – ShareAlike
3. Attribution – NoDerivs
4. Attribution – NonCommercial
5. Attribution – NonCommercial – ShareAlike
6. Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs
7. Public Domain (sort of a non-license)

The licenses are structured in a positive way; they are more of "you may do this" rather than "you may not do that." Note that each of the first six licenses each requires attribution of the author and/or copyright owner. The first license, attribution only, is the broadest license, and allows users to remix, edit, distribute, and create new works from your work, even for commercial purposes. Licenses two through six start with attribution, and add one or more additional restrictions.

"ShareAlike" means that anyone who uses your work in another work must allow others to use the resulting work in the same manner. If you plan to incorporate some Creative Commons licensed materials into something you are creating, make sure that you can allow the resulting product to carry the same license. This may be problematic if you are creating something as a work-for-hire and your employer wishes the finished product to be fully protected by copyright.

"NoDerivs" means "no derivative works." In other words, a user may distribute your work in a commercial or non-commercial venue as long as the work is not changed in any way, such as a remix or a reworking such as changing lyrics.

"NonCommercial" tells the potential user that the work is available only to those who would make the work available on a non-commercial basis.

The fifth and sixth licenses both require attribution as a minimum, and then add two of the above limitations. For example, license six (the most restrictive license) requires attribution, requires the user to leave the work intact, and allows the user to share the work only in a non-commercial manner.

For the most altruistic copyright owners, Creative Commons has a document that allows a copyright owner/creator to waive all rights given under copyright law. Creative Commons calls this document "No Rights Reserved." Creative Commons has even created a symbol—a mark—that can be used on works for which no rights are ever to be claimed. Creative Commons has a web page explaining use of this mark, and the situations when it should not be used. Certainly as the author you would not use that mark in a work-for-hire situation because you are not the copyright owner of the work. Read more about the Public Domain Mark here: https://creativecommons.org/about/pdm/.

The Take-Away

So how is Creative Commons different from copyright law? It isn't. Virtually all Creative Commons licensed works ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT unless they have been dedicated to the public domain. Creative Commons encourages the use of works that are protected by copyright by giving copyright owners a simple means to allow others to use their works under common use scenarios. The simple tagging of works available for certain types of uses allows Internet searches based on the license type, so the author can quickly locate material with the needed licensing. As more and more authors and creators opt to share works rather than restrict access to works, mankind's bounty will serve to advance civilization in the ways the Founding Fathers envisioned in the U.S. Constitution: "[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts."

This column is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information regarding application of copyright law in schools. Nothing in this column is intended to constitute legal advice, and nothing herein should be considered legal advice. If legal advice is required, the reader should consult a licensed attorney in his or her own state. Neither ABC-CLIO, LLC, nor the author makes any warranties or representations concerning the information contained in this column or the use to which it is put.