Creative Commons

Creative Commons ("CC") licenses provide copyright holders with standardized licenses, allowing them greater control over how their work is used. A description of each of the six CC licenses is below, along with the requirements for using content pursuant to a CC license. Failing to properly cite CC material may result in the license being voided by the copyright holder.

Creative Commons licenses only apply to the copyright in the material.  If there are personal rights associated with content distributed under a CC license, proper permission from the individuals appearing within the material must be obtained (for instance, any individuals appearing within CC-licensed images). 

Creative Commons Licenses

There are Six Creative Commons licenses available, half of which allow for commercial use and half do not; otherwise they are identical in terms.  Since we are a commercial publisher, we cannot use content licensed under the non-commercial ("NC") licenses.  If the content you wish to use is licensed under an NC license, you must obtain permission to use the content from the right holder. 

Here is a snapshot of the license terms:

Licenses          Attribution Required Commercial Use Edits Allowed New Work Requires Same License Use Content Under This License
CC BY X X X   Yes
CC BY-SA X X X X Yes, if not making edits to content - otherwise by permission only
CC BY-ND X X     Yes, if not making edits to content - otherwise by permission only
CC BY-NC X   X   No - By permission only
CC BY-NC-SA X   X X No - By permission only
CC BY-NC-ND X       No - By permission only

Providing Proper Credit

For all CC licenses, proper attribution is always required.  This is important because failing to properly cite the source puts us in violation of the license and subject to copyright infringement claims. 
 

Always provide the following:

  • Full source info
    • Title, Author, and Source/Location link/url
  • License Info
    • Name of the license and link/url to the terms
 

Example of proper citation: 

Photo of Ceiling frescos in Sonntagberg Basilica by Daniel Gran, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sonntagberg_Basilika_Deckenfresken_03.JPG, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.

 

Please note that the information provided on this site is not intended to be legal advice.  You may wish to consult with your own legal counsel regarding your legal obligations.