Creative Commons Licenses

What are free licenses?

With a public license, the author (creator) grants users additional copyright permissions to use his/her work. Contents under a public license remain protected by copyright, but may be used within the scope of the respective license terms. Some public licenses, such as CC BY, are considered free or open copyright licenses.

What is Creative Commons?

The Creative Commons organization was founded in 2001 to ensure the legally unambiguous formulation of license terms of public licenses. CC Licenses allow the author to grant certain exploitation rights to the users within the framework of a work usage permit, for example commercial or non-commercial use or modifications of works. CC licenses offer an alternative to the standardized "all rights reserved" copyright in favor of a "some rights reserved" approach.

Further information:

• Creative Commons
• Frequently Asked Questions on Creative Commons & Open Access