Because copyright protection is granted automatically, lasts practically forever, and nearly ever “use” online is a copy, copyright regulates nearly every use we make of content online. Copyright law does not make sense in the digital age.
People in U.S. like to complain about fair use. “right to hire a lawyer” – but actually incredibly strong and robust – don’t take for granted.
But fair use is not always enough.
Small nonprofit based in Mountain View, CA. Born in response to the problem with copyright law.
Had a vision. Goal = working within copyright to make sharing on the web work. Tried to do this by creating public licenses for people to apply to their works.
Intended not as a permanent fix, but as a temporary patch before copyright was reformed to make sense in digital age.
Range from most restrctive – verbatim copies for NC purposes only – to least restrictive – can do anything for any purpose as long as you attribute.
All grant same baseline of permissions – everything under copyright except derivatives.
All licenses require attribution.
Differences boil down to three things: 1) whether they allow commercial use; 2) whether they allow derivatives; 3) whether derivatives must be released under identical terms
All licenses expressed 3 ways
human-readable since [luckily] not everyone is a lawyer, simplifies major terms into a few icons and non-technical language. User-friendly interface.
This small snippet of HTML code summarizes the CC license and associated metadata (such as who the work is authored by) into a format that software, search engines, and other kinds of technology can understand.
Attribution – can be done in any reasonable manner – must provide author’s name, title, copyright notice, indicate license. Example of best practices.
Comply with other restrictions.
Millions of CC-licensed works online. CC search links to several search engines. Can specify “commercial purposes” and “modify, adapt.”
Also Flickr (200 million+ pics), Wikipedia articles and media files Wikimedia Commons
Not a replacement for fair use! Reduces legal uncertainty; reduces need to involve lawyers or licensing bodies; applies to anyone in the world, not just the U.S., can do anything, not just something transformative.
Just another tool in your toolbox.
