Last Updated: 11/08/2019 14:00

Creative Commons gives creators a simple, standardized way to selectively license copyright permissions to their creative work.

License Types

Creative Commons offers creators a wide range of licensing terms.  Some are very permissive, and others are restrictive.  The following are the primary types of licenses Creative Commons offers:

CC0  

Creative Commons Zero attempts to commits the work to the public domain, without the formal procedures required for such commitment.  The creator has reserved no rights in the work.  A third party may copy, distribute, display/perform, sell, and create derivative works of the original creation.

CC BY  

For the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license terms, one of the major restrictions on the use of the work is that it must be attributed to the original author whenever copied, distributed, displayed/performed, sold, or made a part of a derivative work.  Best practices for crafting CC attributions include captioning an image or ascribing another type of work with the title of the work as a link back to the original web site, the name of the creator, and a linked name of the license term abbreviation.  An example would be:

• "Painter" by Tong Tuan Anh is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

CC BY-SA  

The first major restriction of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license terms is to include attribution to the original author, just as above with the CC BY terms.  The second restriction is that whenever a derivative work is created, such as when someone remixes, tweaks, or builds upon the original author's work, the person who modifies the original work must license their new creation under the identical terms.  Whenever you need to use a CC BY-SA licensed work, such as an image, it is important to include the following attribution line directly below the work as a caption.  The only things that should be changed to the line are the title of the work in quotes (with accompanying link), the author's name, and the version of the CC BY-SA terms, where applicable:

• The above image, "Inspiration" by Patrick Verstappen, is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.  All other content herein is licensed and copyright under different terms and by different parties.

CC BY-ND  

The Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives (CC BY-ND) license terms carry the same attribution requirement as the CC BY terms, plus the additional restriction against the creation of derivative works.  Derivative works are modifiied versions or "new" versions of the creative work.  A derivative work can be created through dramatic changes, or subtle ones, such as cropping, color corrections, or the addition/removal of elements of the work.  The only permissible methods of modification are: (a) conversion of format, such as from a JPG to a PNG, or a DOC to a PDF; and (b) resizing of the image.  As such, if you use a work licensed under these terms, you must not modify it in any other way beside these two mentioned here.

CC BY-NC  

The Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license terms carry the same attribution requirement as the CC BY terms, plus the additional restriction against the use of the work for "commercial advantage or monetary compensation."  Since this institution is a non-profit, accredited institution of higher education, our uses should qualify as NonCommercial.

All Other Licenses

All other Creative Commons licenses are a combination of the above sets of terms.  As of 11/8/2019, UNT representatives are clear to utilize works in their courses under any of the above license terms, or any combination thereof.

Additional Reading

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