Copyright: What are Creative Commons licenses?

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that provides Creative Commons licenses that give every person and organization in the world a free, simple, and standardized way to grant copyright permissions for creative and academic works; ensure proper attribution; and allow others to copy, distribute, and make use of those works

A Creative Commons license helps creators retain copyright while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of their work.

A Creative Commons license makes it easy for you to discover and use others' work. A Creative Commons license includes a "machine readable" version of the license that search engines can understand.

Creative Commons' licenses, code, and tools are offered free of charge, without obligation. Creators do not need to register with Creative Commons to apply a CC license to their material; it is legally valid as soon as they apply it to any material they have the legal right to license.

Creative Commons does not require or provide any means for creators or other rights holders to register use of a Creative Commons license, nor does Creative Commons maintain a database of works distributed under Creative Commons licenses.

To learn more see Creative Commons' Frequently Asked Questions.