DS4OERS/OER process/CC basics



Creative Commons provides a set of free tools to help you legally share your knowledge and creativity.

Basics of copyright
When anyone creates content (as an 'author'), it is automatically copyrighted as 'all rights reserved', even if there is no copyright symbol (©) displayed. This means you must not copy the materials without prior permission from the copyright holder.

In order to provide permissions for others to re-use, re-mix, revise, and re-distribute the materials, the copyright holder must apply an open licence.

Note that there are two exceptions:


 * First, if the duration of copyright for the work has expired, it will enter the public domain, and enable free use
 * Second, an author may dedicate a work to the public domain, waiving the protections associated with copyright. In other words, no copyright exists on the work

Creative Commons has become the international standard for open licensing. There are six Creative Commons licences providing a range of re-use permissions. The licenses are legally robust and free to use. They do not replace copyright, but they provide authors with options to give advance permission for re-use under the specified conditions of the licence.

The six Creative Commons Licences
Copyright holders may choose which permissions or restrictions they want to apply by combining these licensing terms to create one of six CC licences, described below. Note that all six licences require attribution, i.e. giving credit to the creator of the work.

Resource
We provide a free poster originally developed by Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand which you can download, print, and keep handy as a summary of the licence types.


 * Creative Commons Licence Summary Poster (180KB)]