Creative Commons License Guide

Overview

Creative Commons licenses are the most frequently used open licensing system. You can usually find the license for a piece of OER at the bottom of a given page. Use the following chart to assist in identifying Creative Commons licenses on the OER you are evaluating. If you have any questions, you may reach out to Sarah Saia with the Research and Innovation Team at sarahsaia@boisestate.edu.

License Usage

License Image	License Abbr.	License Name	License Usage

License Image	License Abbr.	License Name	License Usage
	CC BY	Attribution	Free to use, revise, and remix with attribution.
	CC BY-SA	Attribution-ShareAlike	Free to use, revise, and remix with attribution, provided any new materials created with this material are shared with the same license.
	CC BY-NC	Attribution-NonCommercial	Free to use, revise, and remix with attribution for noncommercial purposes only.
	CC BY-NC-SA	Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike	Free to use, revise, and remix with attribution for noncommercial purposes only. Any new materials created with this material must be shared with the same license.
	CC BY-ND	Attribution-NoDerivatives	Free to use with attribution. No remixing or revising allowed.
	CC BY-NC-ND	Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivatives	Free to use with attribution for noncommercial purposes only. No remixing or revising allowed.

License Compatibility

While all licenses are designed to create transparency and ease of use with created content, combining work (and associated licenses) can start to complicate this design. This is because not all licenses are compatible with each other - in some cases, the freedoms of one license may conflict with the restrictions of another and bar the user from bringing the two works together.

The CC Wiki page offers a convenient, user-friendly tool to quickly determine the compatibility of licenses associated with work you wish to combine or remix (displayed below). To use the table, choose two works you wish to combine or remix. Find the license of the first work on the first row and the license on the first column. You can combine the works if there is a check mark in the cell where the row and column intersect. Use at least the most restrictive licensing of the two (use the license most to right or down state) for the new work. If there is a cross at the intersection of the row and column then you can not remix these works. This probably indicates that one of the two licenses may not used for commercial purposes, or one of the licenses does not allow for derivative works to be created:

The purpose of the above chart is to identify which CC licenses are incompatible to be combined with others. The table below is an accessible interpretation of the above chart:

Considerations for Licensing Content

An important consideration to make when licensing any work - adaptations or original creations - with a Creative Commons license is that this license cannot be changed or revoked once applied. Be sure you select your license purposefully. Creative Commons provides a Choose Your License tool that can help you identify the best license to meet your needs.

When you license work that you adapted or otherwise modified, you must take the license of the original work into consideration when selecting your license for your adapted work. Key considerations to make here according to the CC License elements include:

• BY: If the original work includes the attribution (BY) element, your adaptor’s license should, at minimum, include this element as well

• NC: If the original work includes the non-commercial (NC) element, your use must not include commercial purposes and your adaptor’s license should, at minimum, include this element as well 

• SA: If the original work includes the share-alike (SA) element, your adaptor’s license must be the same license as the license of the original work

• ND: If the original work includes the non-derivative (ND) element, you are restricted from modifying or adapting this work and therefore, the adaptor’s license does not apply

• Adapted works CC0 or in the Public Domain may have the adaptor’s license of your choosing. Again, the CC Choose Your License tool may help you select the best license to meet your needs in this situation.