Creative Commons: Many Options

Creative Commons: Not Just One License

It is important to note that Creative Commons is not a single license, but instead several different versions granting various permissions. This part can be confusing, so stick with us as we dip a toe into the way the Creative Commons conditions can be combined to form six different licenses that allows creators to specify how they are permitting the public to use their work Links to an external site..

The following list includes the six Creative Commons License combinations Links to an external site.. Click on each link to read about what permissions are granted under each license:

  1. Attribution CC BY Links to an external site.
  2. Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA Links to an external site.
  3. Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND Links to an external site.
  4. Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC Links to an external site.
  5. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA Links to an external site.
  6. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND Links to an external site.

Some Examples

Again, the Creative Commons license combinations can be confusing. It helps to consider examples in practice. Let's assume an author wants to have her work distributed and available for free, but does not want anyone to create derivatives (change) her work. She might consider using a Creative Commons attribution with no-derivatives license. Her work would include the following image and statement including a hyperlink to the Creative Commons license:

Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Links to an external site.

Please watch this brief video (5:32 minutes) that provides additional examples of how some of these Creative Commons licenses work in practice: