Skip to Main Content Lee College Library logo

Copyright: CREATIVE COMMONS

This guide provides an introduction to copyright.

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that offers individual creators a standardized way of granting the public permission to use their creative works under copyright law and enable's you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs. Learn more about Creative Commons Licenses and tools. 

The Licenses

CC offers six core licenses, each of which grants a different set of permissions:

Attribution
CC 
BY: This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original creator. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered.

Attribution-ShareAlike
CC BY-SA
: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work even for commercial purposes, as long as they provide attribution and license their new creations under the identical terms. All new works will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.

Attribution-NoDerivs
CC BY-ND
: This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the original creator.

Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC
: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge the original creator and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA
: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as they credit the original creator and license their new creations under the identical terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND
: This license is the most restrictive of the six main licenses, only allowing others to download the works and share them with others as long as they provide attribution, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

How to give attribution

Apply a creative commons License that work for you

Unsure of the appropriate license for you? Use the License Chooser to select the appropriate license that works for you.

Content Helps

Find content you can Share, Use, and Remix