Licensing and Creative Commons

Understanding U.S. Copyright law is challenging and often frustrating. It takes time and effort to understand your rights as a copyright owner, user, or educator. Copyright laws change over time, and the purpose of copyright "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts" (I U.S. Constitution S8, c8) sometimes seems ambiguous, especially for those who are not legal experts.

Some specific copyright exemptions exist for classroom teaching, libraries, and online learning. However, Creative Commons licensing allows more creative and original works to be used when the author is given appropriate attribution.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons licensing alleviates the ambiguity of using many online resources. Works licensed under Creative Commons are free for anyone to use. These works can also be adapted and shared universally. There are six licenses, four of which are considered "open" with varying degrees of permissions.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are published using one of the four "open" licenses and adhere to the 5 Rs: revise, remix, reuse, redistribute, and retain.

• Revise: edit and reorganize a text
• Remix: combine multiple OER into something new
• Reuse: recycle and update the same resource year after year, like a textbook
• Redistribute: share any alterations you make, typically under a similar open license
• Retain: keep a copy without fear of it disappearing (as can be the case with licensed ebooks or journal subscriptions)

Understanding open licenses

Read the Creative Commons handout on its six types of licenses.

• Attribution: anyone who uses your work in any way must give you credit in whatever way you request, unless given permission to use your work without giving credit.
• ShareALike: others can copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify your work as long as they do so under the same terms (license) as the original work you created.
• NoDerivs: others can copy, distribute, display, and perform your work, but they can't modify it without permission.
• NonCommercial: others can copy, distribute, perform, and modify your work for any non-commercial purpose and must give you credit in whatever way you request.
• NonCommercial ShareALike: others can copy, distribute, perform, and modify your work for any non-commercial purpose as long as they do so under the same terms (license) as the original work.
• NonCommercial NoDerivs: others can copy, distribute, and perform (but not modify) your work for any non-commercial purpose.

Sharing with Creative Commons licenses

Video credit: Creative Commons