When a creator or copyright holder assigns an open license to their work, they specify how they want others to reuse it. Open licensing does not replace copyright. Open licenses work with copyright to promote shared use. This changes the copyright from "all rights reserved" to "some rights reserved."
For Open Licensing, the most widely used open licenses are the Creative Commons (CC) licenses.
Creative Commons (CC) is an internationally active, non-profit organization that provides free licenses for creators to use so they can make their work available to the public. These licenses allow the creator to permit others to use their work under certain conditions, which makes it possible for educators to share their work freely while setting usage rights. When something is licensed with a Creative Commons license, users know how they are allowed to use and distribute the content.
Creators or copyright holders who wish to apply a Creative Commons license to their work can choose the conditions of reuse and modification by selecting one or more of the restrictions listed below. Every Creative Commons license except the Public Domain designation requires users to give attribution to the work's creator. Other restrictions are optional and may prevent reuse, so care is suggested when selecting a license.
Email aggieopen@ucdavis.edu to schedule a consultation related to using or creating openly licensed course materials.