Questions tagged [creative-commons]
For questions about the Creative Commons licenses and the organization behind them. There are many Creative Commons licenses, so if you are asking a question about a specific license be sure to state which one.
192 questions
92
votes
2
answers
21k
views
Why is CC BY-SA discouraged for code?
Everybody knows that you shouldn't use a CC BY-SA license on your code. Even the Creative Commons folk recommend against it. What I don't know or understand is why. I can't seem to find any ...
- 5,546
39
votes
3
answers
5k
views
How could using code released under CC0 infringe on the author's patents?
Creative Commons defines a CC0 license type (here's the full legal code) that claims to allow creators to release their works into the public domain by waiving "all their copyright and related rights ...
- 535
36
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What are the consequences for downstream actors of redistributing a work under a wider CC license than the copyright holder authorized?
Say that Company A is an online platform which hosts user-generated content, and to do so Company A requires in its ToS that users license said content publicly under Creative Commons License X.
...
- 463
30
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What do I need to share if I include CC-BY-SA artwork in my software?
CC-BY-SA is a Creative Commons license with a copyleft clause - if you derive something from it, you must also provide the derivative under the same license if you distribute it. The relevant clause ...
- 8,989
24
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Can I "upgrade" the version of CC BY-SA from 3.0 to 4.0 in my modification?
What I'm doing:
I'm adapting a work licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported license to a different language.
I'm indicating the original work and its license.
I'm indicating that I have made changes to ...
- 1,407
22
votes
2
answers
449
views
Why aren't Creative Commons licenses appropriate for data?
The Panton Principles state
Many widely recognized licenses are not intended for, and are not appropriate for, data or collections of data. A variety of waivers and licenses that are designed for ...
- 1,615
22
votes
1
answer
772
views
What is considered proper attribution for a deleted Stack Exchange post?
When a creator posts content to any Stack Exchange site, they grant Stack Exchange a Creative Commons Attribute Share-Alike license to use (and display and share) the content. This is irrevocable - ...
- 1,792
21
votes
1
answer
8k
views
Why shouldn't Creative Commons licenses be used for software? [duplicate]
Suppose I was finishing up an open source software. I needed to license it under an open source license.
My question:
Why would I not want to license my software under a Creative Commons license?
...
- 5,920
20
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is re-encoding an audio or video file permitted under CC-BY-ND?
I have a .mp3 file licensed under CC-BY-ND 4.0 and I want to reencode it (without changing the content within) in the Ogg Vorbis format for sharing, but I do not want to violate the CC license.
- 343
20
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Is the CC BY-ND an Open license?
CC BY-ND (Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives) is a fairly restrictive license. It does not allow derivative works.
The Wikipedia article on Creative Commons licenses says that it is not a ...
- 309
20
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can I redistribute CC-BY works in DRM-protected app stores?
CC-BY 4.0 (and the related licenses with "BY" in their names, like CC-BY-SA, CC-BY-NC) includes a clause that says I must not place "additional restrictions" on the work:
No ...
- 8,989
20
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Are permissive licenses (MIT/BSD/zlib) compatible with CC-BY?
Permissive licenses like MIT only require that you include the license text if you redistribute.
CC licenses that have the BY part require that the original authors are attributed, but in flexible ...
- 8,989
18
votes
5
answers
2k
views
May someone else apply a license to CC0 material?
Alice licensed her work under CC0 1.0.
May Bob take Alice’s work and publish it under another Creative Commons license (e.g., CC BY-SA)?
If yes, may Bob publish it under his own name (i.e., not ...
- 5,700
17
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How can I license a YouTube commercial which includes CC BY-SA Licensed music?
Context: I'm making a YouTube commercial, which includes some music that's licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Would an audio-visual work constitute a derivative work of the music used in it, and (given the ...
- 279
17
votes
3
answers
344
views
Is CC BY attribution transitive?
CC BY (4.0) is a flexible, permissive license that requires attributing the licensor.
What if: Alice creates an artwork and distributes under CC BY, which is adapted by Bob who also distributes under ...
- 8,989
16
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Protect public project from potential patents
We have a simple 3D-printable object, which can be used as a medical aid. We would like to publish this object free to use to the public.
We would like to keep this object and further revisions and ...
- 161
16
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Are there official Markdown versions of the CC licenses?
Official plaintext versions of the Creative Commons licenses are available. Are there similarly official Markdown versions?
- 2,080
16
votes
3
answers
240
views
Am I responsible for fixing broken links under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license?
The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License states
If You Share the Licensed Material (including in modified form), You must:
A. retain the following if it ...
- 1,615
15
votes
1
answer
332
views
Do I have to retain the copyright notice exactly where it’s specified?
CC BY-SA 4.0 says the following about Attribution:
1. If You Share the Licensed Material (including in modified form), You must:
A retain the following if it is supplied by the ...
- 5,700
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Can Wikipedia content be used on my website if I attribute it on my terms and conditions page?
Can Wikipedia written content and images be used on my website, without a direct recognition on the page it is used. Perhaps place any thanks/recognition in the terms and conditions of my page.
- 291
14
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Does the CC-BY-SA License require that source code of derivative works be shared?
For example, if I create a LaTeX file and license it with CC BY SA, can someone create a derivative work, but only publish the PDF, without giving out the derived LaTeX source code?
Does this fall ...
14
votes
4
answers
9k
views
What is derivative work? What is "build upon"?
I have been reading up on Open Source licensing, but there is this one term that I think needs clarification: when is work derivative?
If I have an image viewer that accepts a ZIP file and I ...
- 243
14
votes
3
answers
4k
views
How to attribute Creative Commons images in a quiz game (mobile app)?
I am a mobile developer and trying to work on a mobile application which will be something like the Guess the City app.
The app will display four landmarks on one screen and the player will have to ...
- 141
14
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is Stack Exchange's CC-BY-SA v3.0 content compatible with the GPL?
Currently, all user submitted content is licensed under "cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required". This shows up at the bottom of each page:
user contributions licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 ...
user756
14
votes
4
answers
403
views
What would be a good licence for computable data models?
What would be a good license for computable data models? Technically they're source code, but they're always constrained and transformed to other artifacts before being used in actual software. At the ...
- 249
13
votes
2
answers
592
views
Can I leave out parts of a CC BY-ND licensed work when distributing it?
I want to redistribute a work licensed under CC BY-ND 3.0.
The license summary says about ND (NoDerivatives):
If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the ...
- 5,700
13
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Using CC-NC material inside a freemium app
I want to include a bunch of images licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA inside my freemium web software.
The user can choose one or more of these images to make her own composition. This part of the ...
- 233
13
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How can I license my content in a blogpost?
Let's say I have a blog post, and I want to release it under a Creative Commons license. I later publish this post to my blog.
How do I apply a license to my blogpost?
Do I need to state how it is ...
- 5,920
13
votes
2
answers
471
views
When to use a ported (instead of an international) CC 3.0 license?
If I want to license my work under a Creative Commons 3.0 license, I could use:
the international/unported version
the version ported for my jurisdiction
(For example, in case of CC BY-SA 3.0: CC BY-...
- 5,700
13
votes
2
answers
361
views
DRM and "Licensed Rights" for works that contain material licensed under CC BY 4.0
CC BY 4.0 says about applying DRM (or other "Effective Technological Measures"):
No downstream restrictions. You may not […] apply any Effective Technological Measures to […] the Licensed Material ...
- 5,700
12
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Choosing a License for a Tutorial Site
I apologize in advance for what is probably a dumb question, but I'm trying to do this the right way from the beginning.
I'm putting together a coding tutorial site, and my main question boils down ...
- 223
11
votes
3
answers
849
views
Can I apply one license to specific users and another to others?
Suppose I am a developer. I am developing a piece of software. I decide I want to make this code open source. But... I only want developers (or people that will be using the code in other projects) to ...
- 5,920
11
votes
1
answer
154
views
When does code become my own?
I am developing a piece of software. The software is based on a piece of open source software. My question is how much must be changed / edited before I can call it my own? Also how do you classify ...
- 5,920
10
votes
5
answers
12k
views
Choosing the most restrictive open-source license
I am working on a not open source project. As I truly respect the ideas behind the free software movement, I would like to also make my own works open source whenever possible. However, I am not the ...
10
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is it common to licence blog posts under Creative Commons?
I plan on writing a personal blog, which will be mostly about software development topics. It's going to be implemented as a Github Pages blog on my own custom domain.
I am debating whether I should ...
- 209
9
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Can I charge expenses for a work under CC BY-NC-SA?
I have a 3d printer that I use to print some models. There is a model I like that is licensed in Creative Commons under the Attribution - Non-Commercial - Share Alike license.
I am not sure what "...
- 193
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can a derivative of a public domain text be licensed under CC0?
I am taking a public domain text1, and applying some changes to it. It is possible I'll end up taking several texts from several sources, but all public domain. The nature of the changes are:
...
9
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Is a government organisation commercial or non-commercial?
Assume that someone is working on a government project either as a government employee or a contractor working on a site which will be delivered and then subsequently maintained by a government agency....
- 304
9
votes
2
answers
834
views
Choosing a license for a repository of programming course material (LaTeX slides + examples code)
With some colleagues, we have been developing a programming university course over some years, and now we want to make it available to the public as open-source, in the form of a GitLab repository.
...
- 193
9
votes
2
answers
800
views
Does it make sense to license my content under a more restrictive license if it's licensed CC-BY-SA?
Let's say that I make a post on a Stack Exchange site. That content is owned by me, but I gave the company a perpetual and irrevocable license under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0. As ...
- 1,792
9
votes
1
answer
278
views
Why is the CC sampling+ license incompatible with other CC licenses?
Creative Commons used to publish a license called "Sampling Plus", but according to this page, it was retired/deprecated in 2011 due to inadequate demand and "Not compatible with any other CC license"....
- 8,989
9
votes
2
answers
76
views
Using only a part of a collaboratively created work – whom to attribute?
On sites like Stack Overflow and Wikipedia (both use CC BY-SA 3.0), users can collaboratively create/edit a work. If I distribute such a work, I have to attribute all contributing users.
But what if I ...
- 5,700
8
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Can someone re-license an adaptation of my CC BY-NC materials under commercial terms?
In the comments below this answer, it is stated that while there is no ShareAlike clause (that would be CC BY-NC-SA), you would not be allowed to re-license Adapted Materials under commercial terms.
...
- 9,205
8
votes
2
answers
813
views
Use SVG code licensed under CC
I want to use SVG icons which are licensed under CC BY 4.0 on my website. The CC BY 4.0 asks to give attribution. So, the question is do I give the attribution in the SVG code as "Icons provided ...
- 225
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Creative Commons: Unported vs. Generic vs. International etc
I'm a big user of Creative Common licenses and I often used https://creativecommons.org/choose/ in the past to find the right license to use.
However, I now see many suffixes for CC Attribution ...
- 267
8
votes
2
answers
232
views
Do I have to exclude quotations in the license notice?
I want to publish a blog post under a Creative Commons license (e.g., CC BY-SA 4.0). This post includes several quotations (to the extent allowed by copyright law) from works which are not licensed ...
- 5,700
8
votes
2
answers
109
views
Sharing CC BY licensed material without offering a way to be contacted
Section 3(a)(3) of the license CC BY 4.0:
If requested by the Licensor, You must remove any of the information required by Section 3(a)(1)(A) to the extent reasonably practicable.
While it does ...
- 5,700
8
votes
0
answers
113
views
Do I have to distribute intermediary formats of my adaption? [duplicate]
There's a website that I really like which is licensed under CC-BY-SA. I've always thought it would work really well as a physical book too, and so I've decided to try to make it happen.
I'm planning ...
- 181
7
votes
3
answers
776
views
CC-By-SA: Can the author update his past creation when updating his name?
I'm working at Pl@ntNet which contributes a lot of plant observations (around 20M) online under cc-by-sa.
On the app, a user can edit their profile and change their display name. But doing so will ...
- 181
7
votes
3
answers
996
views
Can I license artwork that has a mixture of CC BY-SA, public domain, CC0, Pexels licensed images under CC BY-SA?
I have created some artwork that uses images mostly licensed under variations of CC BY-SA. There are also some public domain, CC0, and rarely images from Pexels/similar "free to use" sites. ...
