Authors Shilpa Rele, Bret McCandless, Christine Davidian,
License CC-BY-4.0
Rowan University
Rowan Digital Works
Library Workshops University Libraries
Fall 2021
Open Licensing: Introduction to Creative Commons Licenses
Christine Davidian
Rowan University, davidian@rowan.edu
Bret McCandless
Rowan University, mccandless@rowan.edu
Shilpa Rele
Rowan University, rele@rowan.edu
Follow this and additional works at: https://rdw.rowan.edu/libraryworkshops
Recommended Citation
Davidian, Christine; McCandless, Bret; and Rele, Shilpa, "Open Licensing: Introduction to Creative
Commons Licenses" (2021). Library Workshops. 12.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/libraryworkshops/12
This Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the University Libraries at Rowan Digital Works. It
has been accepted for inclusion in Library Workshops by an authorized administrator of Rowan Digital Works.
Open Licensing: Introduction to Creative
Commons Licenses
Rowan University Libraries
Fall 2021
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ (video accessed 3/07/2021)
This work, Open Licensing: Introduction to Creative Commons Licenses, by Christine Davidian, Bret McCandless, and Shilpa
Rele, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and is an adaptation (based on Open
Copyright: A Review, by Christine Davidian, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License).
Do you want to ...
● … adapt open access materials for teaching?
● ... create an Open Educational Resource (OER)?
● … share your work for free but retain copyright to it?
● … use free media and images in creative projects and
scholarship?
● … publish in an Open Access (OA) journal?
Overview
● Overview of Copyright and Public Domain
● Overview of Copyright Exemptions and Fair Use
● Creative Commons (CC) Licenses
● Attributing and Licensing CC Content
● Finding CC Materials
● Collections and Adaptations
Learning Outcomes
● Participants will understand the rights and limitations of
the six different creative commons licenses.
● Participants will be able to apply creative commons
licenses to created works.
● Participants will be able to find and adapt works with
creative commons licenses.
Presentation Housekeeping
● Please enter questions into the chat and they will
be answered as we go. You can also ask
questions during Q&A at the end of the
presentation.
● You can also email questions following this
presentation to Bret, Christine and Shilpa (Email
contacts on the final slide).
● The slides will be made available online following
the presentation on the
https://libguides.rowan.edu/libraryworkshops
web page.
What is Copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S.
Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship
fixed in a tangible medium of expression.
Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.
Source: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#what
● Original = must have some degree of creativity, not common
○ Example: The phrase “I love you” cannot be copyrighted
● Works
○ Literary works
○ Musical works, including any accompanying words
○ Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
○ Pantomimes and choreographic works
Definition ○ Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
○ Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
of Terms ○ Sound recordings, which are works that result from the fixation of
a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds
○ Architectural works
● Fixed in a tangible medium of expression (example):
○ Work = choreographic work
○ Tangible medium of expression = video of the performance or some
other fixed documentation
Why Do We Have Copyright?
● Promotes the progress of science, the arts, and knowledge
● Encourages creators by granting a temporary monopoly,
allowing them to profit from their work
● This monopoly is limited by the potential benefits of the
public
Your work is under copyright protection the
moment it is created and fixed in a tangible
form that it is perceptible either directly or
What is Copyright with the aid of a machine or device.
Protection? OR What
Are My Rights As A 1. Reproduce copyrighted work
Creator? 2. Prepare derivative works
3. Distribute copies of the work
4. Perform the work publicly
5. Display the work publicly
6. Perform the work publicly by digital
transmission
What Do I Need To Do To Protect My Work?
Nothing! After 1979, copyright is automatic once an original work is fixed.
Potentially register your work with the US Copyright Office if you receive
monetary gain through your work and want to establish the date of your
claim.
You may also want to add the following to your work:
● The copyright symbol ©
● Your name
● Your contact information where permission can be obtained
● Years for which the copyright pertains
● The phrase "All Rights Reserved"
How Long Does Copyright Last?
The duration of copyright is fixed by national and state
governments. In general, works in the US after 1979 are
copyrighted for the life of the author plus seventy years after
the author’s death.
Once this duration ends, works enter what is called the Public
Domain. Works in the public domain may be used freely.
What is in the Public Domain?
The Public Domain also includes works that do not qualify for
copyright protection, such as federal government documents, works
of insufficient originality, or works prior to 1979 that failed to renew
their copyright.
Cornell University Library Copyright Term and the Public Domain
in the United States Tool:
https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain
Copyright & Other Methods of Protecting Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property Definition Registration Is it Free?
Protection Method Required?
Copyright Protected expression of ideas or No Yes
creative works
Trademark Protected symbol distinguishing Yes No
products and services of one
organization from other those of
™ others
Patent Protected invention whose creator Yes No
has monopoly for some time
period
Public Domain & Copyright Exemptions
● Public Domain
● Copyright Exemptions
○ Fair Use
○ Fair Dealing
Introduction to Fair Use
Section 107 of the Copyright Law allows some Fair use is a
exemptions to copyright infringement, given guideline for courts
certain uses, including:
to consider, and
● Criticism going to court is the
● Comment only way to
● News reporting
officially decide
● Teaching (including multiple copies for
classroom use) whether a use is
● Scholarship “fair”.
● Research
Four Factors of Fair Use
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a
commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the
copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the
copyrighted work.
All four factors are weighed against each other in determining whether a use is
“fair”
* If you want to learn more, come to the Fair Use and Instruction
workshop! (September 27, October 27)
What is a Creative Commons (CC) License?
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public
copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an
otherwise copyrighted work. A CC license is used when an
author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build
upon a work that they have created.
Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license
(accessed 07/26/2019)
CC License Attributes
CC License: CC License DOES NOT Apply to:
● Protects copyright holder ● Non-copyrighted materials
● Extends copyright permissions (public domain)
● Appropriate when creators ● Fair Use
want to let people freely
distribute or create derivative
works from it.
Three Layers of a CC License
● Legal Code - legal language
● Commons Deed - explanation Legal Code
in plain language Commons Deed
● Machine Readable Code - Machine Readable Code
format that applications and
search engines can read
CC Licenses’ Four License Elements
BY = Attribution - must give credit to creator
NC = Non Commercial for European Union for Japan
SA = Share Alike
ND = No Derivative
Download CC logos buttons and icons from
https://creativecommons.org/about/downloads/
The Six CC Licenses
The Six CC Licenses
All CC Licenses MUST contain attribution (Start with CC-BY)
Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY)
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-SA)
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC)
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-SA)
Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-BY-ND)
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-ND)
View CC’s Six Licenses for Sharing your Work
Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY)
May: Share and Adapt Work (even commercially)
Must: Give credit to creator of original work, link to license terms,
show if one changed the material and keep a history of changes.
Example: Presentation slides at a conference, article, Open Educational
Resources (OER), book, image
Example of CC-BY License
"Indianapolis Central
Library" by Serge Melki is
licensed under CC BY 2.0
Example of CC-BY License
Lesson: “Create an Interactive Story Game (Using Google Slides)” by John Whitfield
is licensed under CC-BY 4.0
Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International License
(CC-BY-SA)
May: Share and Adapt Work (even commercially)
Must: Give credit to creator of original work, link to license terms, show if
you changed the material and keep a history of changes AND
adapted/derived work must have the same type of license as this work
Example: Wikipedia entries
Example of CC-BY-SA License
Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
License (CC-BY-ND)
May: Use unadapted work for commercial or non-commercial purposes
Must: Give credit to creator of original work, link to license terms, NOT
SHARE ADAPTED WORK
Example: Copy of a work that may have been purchased, for private
use, Drupal security review document
Example of CC-BY-ND License
Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International
License (CC-BY-NC)
May: Share and adapt the work BUT NOT FOR PROFIT
Must: Give credit to creator of original work, link to license terms AND
must be used for non-commercial or not for profit purposes only
Example: Open Access (OA) journal article that may be reused but not for
profit-making purposes. Many faculty who make their work OA agree to
make their articles OA provided their work is not used for profit.
Example of CC-BY-NC License
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International License (CC-BY-NC-SA)
May: Share and Adapt Work BUT NOT FOR PROFIT
Must: Give credit to creator of original work, link to license terms, show if
changed the material and keep a history of changes AND adapted/derived
work must have the same type of license AND adapted work must not be
for profit
Example: Poster incorporating an image that has a cc-by-sa license
Example of CC-BY-NC-SA work License
Cross by James Blackshaw is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International (CC-BY-NC-ND)
May: Use for NON-COMMERCIAL USES ONLY and NOT SHARE ADAPTED
WORK
Must: Give credit to creator of original work, link to license terms, USE for
NON-COMMERCIAL purposes AND NOT SHARE ADAPTED WORK
Example: Copy of a work that is free/not for sale, many open books and
journal articles
Example of CC-BY-NC-ND License
CC0 License “No Rights Reserved”
CC0 enables scientists, educators, artists and other creators and owners of copyright- or
database-protected content to waive those interests in their works and thereby place
them as completely as possible in the public domain, so that others may freely build
upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under
copyright or database law
CC Licenses and the Public Domain
● Cannot license works that are already in public domain
● Two public domain tools:
● CC0 - Public Domain Dedication Tool - Creators put their own works in
worldwide public domain instead of license (legal code)
● Public Domain Mark - labels or tags works already in public domain
around the world as being in public domain (not legal code, only a
label)
● View CC’s Guide to using public domain tools
Example of Image released under CC0 license
Jersey for the Atlanta Braves worn and
autographed by Hank Aaron,
Collection of the Smithsonian National
Museum of African American History and
Culture
How to Give Attribution to CC Materials
An ideal license includes:
● Title of the original work
● Author of the original work (with a link to their profile on the original
source, if possible)
● Source of the original work (preferably a link to it)
● License (with a link to the license type on the CC website) (accessed 3/05/2021)
● If modified, specify how you modified the work
Further help:
https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Best_practices_for_attribution
(accessed 3/05/2021)
How to License Your Own Work
Licensing can be as simple as writing “This work is licensed by
<name> under < CC license name>. “ that links to the license.
Creative Commons License Chooser creates a machine-readable
license: https://chooser-beta.creativecommons.org/ (accessed 3/05/2021)
https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Marking_your_work_with_a
_CC_license (accessed 3/05/2021)
How to
License Your
Own Work
When you deposit
your work (e.g. OER)
in Rowan Digital
Works, you can pick
a license from the
drop down menu on
the submission form
How to License Your Own Work: Creative Commons License Chooser
(accessed 2/01/2021)
How to License
Your Own Work:
Creative Commons
License Chooser
(accessed 2/01/2021)
Finding CC Text Materials
General: OER Sites and Scholarship:
● Wikimedia Commons ● OER Commons
● Internet Archive ● Directory of Open Access Journals
● Creative Commons Repository ● OpenStax
● MERLOT
● MIT OpenCourseware
● Rowan Digital Works OER
Finding CC Media Materials
Images: Video:
● Creative Commons Website ● VimeoCC
● The Noun Project
Music:
● Google Images
● Flickr ● ccMixter
● Metropolitan Museum of Art ● Jamendo
Open Access Images ● SoundCloud
● Smithsonian Open Access ● Free Music Archive
● Europeana
CC Licenses and Fair Use
For USERS: For CREATORS:
● User’s rights to copyrighted works under ● Creators may apply a CC license to their
fair use and fair dealing, are not subject to work if it incorporates material used
CC licenses. under fair use or another exception or
● “CC licenses do not reduce, limit, or limitation to copyright provided that
restrict any rights under exceptions and they identify fair use material or third
limitations to copyright, such as fair use or party content and state it is not subject
fair dealing. If your use of CC-licensed to cc license.
material would otherwise be allowed https://creativecommons.org/faq/#may-
because of an applicable exception or i-apply-a-cc-license-to-my-work-if-it-inc
limitation, you do not need to rely on the orporates-material-used-under-fair-use-
CC license or comply with its terms and or-another-exception-or-limitation-to-co
conditions”. pyright (Accessed 3/05/2021)
https://creativecommons.org/faq/
(Accessed 3/05/2021)
Collections
Original Work: Original Work:
This work, Delicious and
Deliciou This work, Apple
healthy homemade by Pascal Volk, is
Apple by Marco Verch, is licensed under
licensed under CC-BY 2.0 CC-BY-SA 2.0
Collection:
This work, Apple Orchard, by Christine Davidian, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and is a
collection based on Delicious and healthy homemade Apple by Marco Verch, licensed under CC-BY 2.0, and Apple by Pascal Volk,
licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0
Collections
● Collection: A group of aggregated works
● Licenses of the aggregated works stay intact
● May have separate copyright for additions made to the collection
(how parts of collection are arranged).
● DO NOT have to Share Alike if you are using a SA-licensed work.
● DO NOT have to adhere to ND restriction if you are using an
ND-licensed work
● May combine the CC licensed material with other work if you
attribute the material and adhere to the applicable Non-Commercial
restriction.
Adaptations or Remixes or Derivatives
Original Work: Original Work:
This work, Delicious and This work, Apple by
Deliciou healthy homemade Pascal Volk, is
Apple by Marco Verch, is licensed under
licensed under CC-BY 2.0 CC-BY-SA 2.0
Adaptation:
Adaptation
This work, Delicious Apple, by Christine Davidian, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License, and is an adaptation (based on Delicious and healthy homemade Apple by Marco Verch, licensed under CC-BY
2.0, and Apple by Pascal Volk, licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0 )
Adaptations or Remixes or Derivative Works
● Adaptation/Remix/Derivative: A work based on already existing works
○ Definition depends on jurisdiction but requires adapter to add
original expression to work.
● Examples: translating a work to other languages, creating a version of
the work in a different medium (such a film based on a book).
● To be an adaptation, remix, or a derivative work, the end product
must be based on or derived from original work(s).
● Licenses of components must be compatible.
Compatible Licenses for Adaptations
https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/File:CC_License_Compatibility_Chart.png (accessed 3/07/2021)
Practice Picking a License
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17q9WtqSBPPVl923UAT-jViasOPQd--KgmjEeyfEo
rLA/edit?usp=sharing
Library Copyright Workshops Fall 2021
Open Licensing: Introduction to Creative Commons Workshop Info and Registration:
Licensing https://libguides.rowan.edu/libraryworkshops
● Thursday, October 28, 11am-12pm
● Thursday, November 18, 2-3pm
Open Access Publishing at Rowan University
● Thursday, September 23, 11am-12pm
● Monday, November 8, 2-3pm
Tha y - Merci - Gracias - 谢谢- ध यवाद- շնոր - ﺷﮑرﯾہ- תודה
waita hako
Christine Davidian Bret McCandless Shilpa Rele
Electronic Resources Performing Arts Scholarly
and Serials Librarian: Librarian: Communications and
davidian@rowan.edu mccandless@rowan. Data Curation Librarian:
edu rele@rowan.edu
This work, Creative Commons Licenses: An Overview, by Christine Davidian, Bret McCandless, and Shilpa Rele, is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and is an adaptation (based on Open Copyright: A Review, by
Christine Davidian, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License).