Your Librarian
Using Works with Creative Commons Licenses
There are multiple Creative Commons licences, and each one has a different combination of permissions and restrictions. Here are the different options for permission or restriction, which can be recombined:
You can have many combinations of BY, NC, ND and SA.
What this means is that when you want to create a work that incorporates a Creative Commons work, you have to make sure that the license you want to put on your work is going to be compatible with the license of the work you are incorporating.
- If you want to remix, you cannot use works under a No Derivative Works license. That means that works with No Derivative Works licenses are not OERs!
- If you have a commercial or for-profit purpose, you cannot use works under a Non-Commercial license
- If you do not want to put your work under a Share Alike license, you cannot use works under a Share Alike license.
- There's a misconception that Share Alike works can't be used behind a password. They can - that is just one copy that is behind a password. The important thing is that other people are still allowed to use the work without permission or royalties!
It gets more complicated when you want to create a work that incorporates two or more Creative Commons works. You will be restricted to the permissions of the most restrictive license.
This Creative Commons License Compatibility Chart is a simple visual way to understand license remixing, and it's also a great quick reference.
Play the OER Remix Game to get familiar with how the different licenses can be combined. There are game instructions to the right of the game. The instructions contain a very thorough and systematic summary of how the licenses can be combined.
Special note! You absolutely can use copyrighted (not Creative Commons) works as part of or as the basis of a Creative Commons work, if you get permission from the copyright owner. This may entail paying royalties.
How to Attribute Creative Commons Works
It is extremely important to give proper attribution, and there is one authority on how and where to do that: the Creative Commons website itself!
- Creative Commons - Best Practices for AttributionHow and where to attribute when you are using a work, modifying a work, or creating a derivative work. Follow these instructions closely and you can't go wrong!
