What is a Creative Commons license?

A Creative Commons (CC) license is a type of copyright license that allows the original creator of a work to assign various levels of copyright privileges to the public at large. Creative Commons licenses are built on the traditional copyright system, and they enable people to legally use copyrighted works without needing to obtain permission from the copyright holder. Creative Commons offers several types of licenses, each of which allows different levels of usage of the copyrighted material. For example, a CC Attribution license allows users to copy, distribute, and build upon the work in any way, for any purpose, even commercially. The only restriction is that the original creator must be attributed in any derivative works. Other CC licenses may offer different types of restrictions and permissions, but all of them allow for some type of sharing and reuse of copyrighted material without needing to obtain individual permission from the copyright holder. In California, Creative Commons licenses are governed by the same copyright laws that govern all other copyrights. The Creative Commons license is intended to provide an easy way for creators to control how their work is used. By selecting the proper license, creators can ensure that the public will be able to access and build upon the work in a way that is legally permissible.

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