Open Licensing Explained
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."
Creative Commons Licenses
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.
CC License Terms
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.
- Attribution (BY)
You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. - Non-commercial (NC)
The material cannot be used for commercial purposes. - Share Alike (SA)
If you remix, transform or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. - No Derivative Works (ND)
If you remix, transform or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
Resources to get you started:
- OERI Attributions and Licensing Guide
This guide from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges details what faculty and instructors need to understand about the various licenses that can be applied to OER and what authors can – and can’t – do.
Open License Tools
- Attribution BuilderThis is a tool to help you build attributions. Click the About box to learn more. As you fill out the form, the app automatically generates the attribution for you.
- Choose an Open LicenseThis chooser helps you determine which Creative Commons License is right for you in a few easy steps.