Frequently Asked Questions

These FAQs are designed to provide a better understanding of Creative Commons, our licenses and our other legal and technical tools. They provide basic information, sometimes about fairly complex topics. These FAQs will often link to more detailed information. Please note that several of our tools have their own in-depth FAQs, including our CC0 Public Domain Dedication and Public Domain Mark. If you have any questions about CC that are not covered here or elsewhere on our website, please email info@creativecommons.org.

Regarding terminology used in these FAQs, Creative Commons designs and stewards licenses and legal tools that allow copyright holders to offer their works to the public on conditions expressed in the selected license or tool. The holder of the copyright may be referred to in these FAQs as the licensor, rightsholder, owner or creator. All of those terms are used interchangeably to refer to the person or entity that at the time the CC license or tool is applied has the right to do so. Additionally, unless otherwise specified, information about our licenses provided below is made with reference to the version 3.0 license suite, and is not necessarily the same for earlier license versions.

Please Note: Creative Commons does not provide legal advice. This FAQ is designed to be helpful in raising awareness about Creative Commons and the use of our licenses and other tools. It is not a substitute for legal advice. It may not cover important issues that affect you. You should consult with your own lawyer if you have questions.

Questions

Most Frequently Asked Questions

Can Creative Commons give legal advice about its licenses or other tools, or help with CC license enforcement?
Who gives permission to use works offered under Creative Commons licenses?
How do I properly attribute a work offered under a Creative Commons license?
What if CC licenses have not been ported to my jurisdiction (country)?
Does my use constitute an adaptation?
Does my use violate the NonCommercial clause of the licenses?
Can I apply a Creative Commons license to software?
How can I change or remove the Creative Commons search option built into the Firefox browser?

About CC

What is Creative Commons and what do you do?
Is Creative Commons against copyright?
Can Creative Commons give legal advice about its licenses or other tools, or help with CC license enforcement?
Who gives permission to use works offered under Creative Commons licenses?
Does Creative Commons collect or track works licensed under a CC license?
May I use the Creative Commons logo and buttons?
I love Creative Commons. How can I help?
Why does Creative Commons run an annual fundraising campaign? What is the money used for and where does it go?

General License Information

What are Creative Commons licenses?
How do CC licenses operate?
Which is the latest version of the licenses offered by Creative Commons?
Why should I use the latest version (currently 3.0) of the Creative Commons licenses?
Do Creative Commons licenses affect exceptions and limitations to copyright, such as fair dealing and fair use?
What does "Some Rights Reserved" mean?
Are Creative Commons licenses enforceable in a court of law?
What happens if someone applies a CC license to my work without my knowledge or authorization?
Which Creative Commons ShareAlike license versions are compatible with each other?
What are the international (“unported”) Creative Commons licenses, and why does CC offer “ported” licenses?
What if CC licenses have not been ported to my jurisdiction (country)?
What do the Creative Commons buttons do?
Can I include a work licensed with CC BY in a Wikipedia article even though they use a CC BY-SA license?
Can anyone use a CC license? What about governments and intergovernmental organizations ("IGOs")?

For Licensors

NB: You should never apply a CC license to a work unless you have all the permissions you need to do so.

What things should I think about before I apply a Creative Commons license to my work?
How should I decide which license to choose?
Should I choose an international license or a ported license?
What if I change my mind?
Can I use a Creative Commons license if I am a member of a collecting society?
Can I still make money from a work I make available under a Creative Commons license?
How do Creative Commons licenses affect my moral rights, if at all?
Can I change the license terms or conditions?
What happens if I offer my work under a Creative Commons license and someone misuses my work?
What can I do if I offer my work under a Creative Commons license and I do not like the way someone uses my work?
What do I do if someone tries to restrict my work with digital rights management (DRM)?
Do I need to register with Creative Commons before I obtain a license?
How do I apply a Creative Commons license to my work?
Why should I use the license chooser? What if I don’t?
May I apply a Creative Commons license to a work in the public domain?
If I take a photograph of another work that is out of copyright and in the public domain, can I apply a CC license to my photo?
Can I insist on the exact placement of the attribution credit?
Can I apply a Creative Commons license to software?
Can I apply a Creative Commons license to data or a database?
Could I use a CC license to share my logo or trademark?
Can I place a trademark on a work and offer the work under a CC license without also licensing or otherwise affecting rights in the trademark? If so, how?

For Licensees

What should I think about before using a work offered under a Creative Commons license?
Are all the licenses at the same version level identical? What should I know about differences between the international licenses and the ported licenses?
Does a Creative Commons license give me all the rights I need to use the work?
How do I properly attribute a work offered under a Creative Commons license?
Do I need to be aware of anything else when providing attribution or credit?
What happens if I want to use the work in a way that is not permitted by the license?
Does my use violate the NonCommercial clause of the licenses?
Does my use constitute an adaptation?
Can I combine works that use different Creative Commons licenses into my work?
If I derive or adapt a work offered under a Creative Commons license, which CC license(s) can I apply to the resulting work?
If I create a collective work that includes a work offered under a CC license, which license(s) may I choose for the collection?
Where can I find material offered under a CC license?

Technical Questions

How do Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools work technically?
What does it mean that Creative Commons licenses are "machine-readable"?
What is RDFa?
What is CC REL and why does Creative Commons recommend it?
What does it mean for a search engine to be CC-enabled?
How do I give users of my site the option to use CC licensing like Flickr does?
How do I change/remove the Creative Commons search options built into the Firefox browser?
Is Creative Commons involved in digital rights management (DRM)?

Legal Background

What is copyright and why does it matter?
What is the public domain?
What do I need to do to get a copyright?
What is an adaptation?
What are moral rights?
What are neighboring rights?
What are collecting societies?
What are publicity and privacy rights?

About CC

What is Creative Commons and what do you do?

Creative Commons is a global nonprofit organization that enables sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge through the provision of free legal tools. CC has affiliates all over the world who help ensure our licenses work internationally and who raise awareness about our work. Our legal tools help those who want to encourage reuse of their works by offering them for use under generous, standardized terms, those who want to make creative uses of works, and those who want to benefit from this symbiosis. Our vision is to help others realize the full potential of the internet.

Although Creative Commons is best known for licenses, our work extends beyond just providing copyright licenses. CC offers a number of other legal and technical tools that also facilitate sharing and discovery of creative works. Unlike other public legal tools, Creative Commons' licenses and tools were designed specifically to work with the web, which makes content that is offered under their terms easy to search for, discover and use. CC also offers other legal tools, such as CC0, a public domain dedication for rightsholders who wish to put their work into the public domain in advance of the expiration of applicable copyright, and the Public Domain Mark, a tool for marking a work that is in the worldwide public domain. Additionally, Creative Commons makes available tools used by scientific communities, such as standard materials transfer agreements.

For more information about CC, our main website contains in-depth information about the organization, its staff and board of directors, its history and its supporters. You can also read CC case studies to learn about some of the inspiring ways CC licenses and tools have been used to share works and support innovative business models. You can also find up-to-the-minute information about CC by visiting the blog.

Is Creative Commons against copyright?

Absolutely not. CC has responded to claims to the contrary. CC licenses are copyright licenses, and depend on the existence of copyright to work. CC licenses are legal tools that creators and other rightsholders can use to offer certain usage rights to the public, while reserving other rights. Those who want to make their work available to the public for limited kinds of uses while preserving their copyright may want to consider using CC licenses. Others who want to reserve all of their rights under copyright law should not use CC licenses.

Can Creative Commons give legal advice about its licenses or other tools, or help with CC license enforcement?

No. Creative Commons is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or legal services. CC is similar to a self-help service that offers free, form-based legal documents for others to use. CC also provides a jurisdiction database where you can compare the international licenses (formerly known at the "unported licenses") and ports (adaptations of the international licenses for particular jurisdictions), and a license versions page where you can compare the differences between license versions.

The CC wiki has a list of lawyers and organizations who have identified themselves as willing to provide information to others about CC licensing issues. However, please note that CC does not provide referral services, and does not endorse or recommend any person on that list. CC's Affiliate Network may also be a good resource for information about the licenses in a particular jurisdiction, though they should not be contacted for legal advice, at least in their capacity as a member of our CC Affiliate Network.

Who gives permission to use works offered under Creative Commons licenses?

Our licenses and legal tools are intended for use by anyone who holds copyright to the work. This is often, but not always, the creator or author. Creative Commons has no authority to grant permission on behalf of those persons, nor does CC manage those rights on behalf of others. CC offers licenses and tools to the public free of charge and does not require that creators or other rightsholders register with CC in order to apply a CC license to a work. This means that CC does not have special knowledge of who uses the licenses and for what purposes, nor does CC have a way to contact authors beyond means generally available to the public.

If you would like to obtain additional permissions to use the work beyond those granted by the license that has been applied, you should contact the rightsholder.

Does Creative Commons collect or track works licensed under a CC license?

CC does not collect content or track works except by way of example. CC builds technical tools that help the public search for and use works licensed under our licenses and other legal tools. For instance, the CC Network allows creators and users to express their support for Creative Commons, and also provides a tool for creators to authenticate ownership of their works. CC also offers tools like CC Search to help the public discover works offered under Creative Commons licenses on the Internet via CC-aware search engines and repositories.

May I use the Creative Commons logo and buttons?

You may download high resolution versions of the Creative Commons logos and use them in connection with your work or your website, provided you comply with our policies. Among other things, if you use the logos on a website or on your work, you may not alter the logos in any respect -- such as by changing the font, the proportions or the colors. CC's buttons, name and corporate logo (the “CC” in a circle) are trademarks of Creative Commons. You cannot use them in ways not permitted by our policies unless you first receive express, written permission. This means, for example, that you cannot (without our permission) print your own buttons and t-shirts using CC logos, although you can purchase them in CC’s store.

I love Creative Commons. How can I help?

Please support CC by making a donation through our support page. You can choose to receive a variety of cool merchandise in exchange for your donation, depending on the amount donated. Donations and shipping information can be handled through Google Checkout or PayPal. You can also support CC by visiting our store.

CC always welcomes your feedback, which you can provide by emailing info@creativecommons.org. Alternately, you can participate in CC's email discussion lists and share feedback and ideas in one of those forums.

Why does Creative Commons run an annual fundraising campaign? What is the money used for and where does it go?

Creative Commons is a global nonprofit organization that enables sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools, with affiliates all over the world who help ensure our licenses work internationally and raise awareness about our work. Our tools are free and our reach is wide. In order to:

continue developing our licenses and public domain tools to make sure they are legally and technically up-to-date around the world,
help creators implement these tools on websites through best practices and individual assistance,
enable CC licensing on major content-sharing platforms,
enhance CC-licensed resource search and discovery,
advocate for CC licensing and open policies in education, science, and culture, and myriad other activities we’re forgetting to mention--such as all the everyday, boring but essential operations that go into running an organization--we need $ to make it all happen!

Creative Commons has always relied on the generosity of both individuals and organizations to fund its ongoing operations. It is essential we have the public’s support because it is the creators and users, neither mutually exclusive, that make our tools relevant in this digital age. They depend on the tools and services CC provides through their reuse and remix of the rich and open resources available on Wikipedia, Flickr, SoundCloud, Vimeo, Europeana, MIT OpenCourseWare, the Public Library of Science, Al Jazeera, and YouTube--just to name a few. Many of these people donate $10, $25 or $50 to CC, to help keep it up and running so we can continue to provide our tools and services for free, as a nonprofit organization. The more people who donate to CC, the more independent it will remain.

General License Information

What are Creative Commons licenses?

Creative Commons licenses provide an easy way to manage the copyright terms that attach automatically to all creative works under copyright. Our licenses allow those works to be shared and re-used under terms that are flexible and legally sound. Creative Commons offers a core suite of six copyright licenses. Because there is no single "Creative Commons license," it is important to identify which of the six licenses you are applying to your work, and which of the six licenses has been applied to a work you intend to use.

All of our licenses require that users provide attribution (BY) to the original creator and licensor (where those are different) when the content is used and shared. Some licensors choose the BY license, which conditions reuse only on that condition. The other five licenses combine BY with one or more of three additional conditions: NonCommercial (NC), which prohibits commercial use of the work; NoDerivatives (ND), which permits reuse provided the work is not modified; and if modifications are allowed, ShareAlike (SA), which requires modified works be released under the same license.

CC licenses may be applied to any type of work, including educational resources, music, photographs, databases, government and public sector information and many other types of creative content. The only categories of works for which CC does not recommend its licenses are computer software and works that are no longer protected by copyright or are otherwise in the public domain.

How do CC licenses operate?

CC licenses take effect and are operative only when applied to a work in which a copyright exists, and even then only when a particular use of the work is prohibited by copyright. This means that CC license terms and conditions are not triggered by