[myNetWords.com] : Creative Commons

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Creative Commons

Updated : Tuesday 12 October 2010

Creative Commons (CC to those in the know) is a non-profit making organisation that offers the authors of works of a cultural nature (text, film, photos, music, websites etc) a legal framework for sharing their creative work subject to certain conditions. In real terms, Creative Commons makes available to creators, free of charge, flexible copyright licensing agreements to use in distributing their creative work.

The author or creator might decide to place his or her work under a Creative Commons licence, which means it can be used completely lawfully without paying any fees, but in exchange for this you must cite or thank the author. Or you might have to undertake not to use the work for any commercial purposes. Another option allows you to use the work created, on the condition that you share it on the same terms, in other words distribute it under the same licence or a similar one. All in all, there are 11 distinct licence agreements worldwide. To find out which form of licence the author has chosen, you need only look at the small print usually found at the foot of the page or the end of the article containing the work. There is a pictogram for each of the possible forms of licence. For example, the symbol BY in a circle (see the illustration above) means that you must at least cite the author of the work you are about to use.

Less restrictive than copyright, Creative Commons licences have relaxed the rights attaching to a work in order to make it easier to distribute. This option is very much in the spirit of web 2.0 as it allows the sharing of knowledge and content in line with the original spirit of the internet, completely lawfully, while at the same time placing a value on the author’s work. "Share what you want, keep what you want" is the CC motto. Halfway between copyleft and copyright, it allows authors to freely disseminate their works while at the same time reserving certain rights. Beware, though, the Creative Commons licence has its drawbacks for the unwary, as the French website decryptages.wordpress.com points out. The advantage of this regime, it explains, is that it is recognised the world over, because the pictograms are the same from one country to the next. That tends to give credence to the view that the underlying right can also be said to be the same, whichever the country. But in reality it is nothing of the kind. Copyright remains, essentially, a matter of national law. So, taking a French work and making it subject to a Creative Commons licence does not confer the same advantages as if the work were American. The author may display the same pictograms, but the licence agreement will be different, simply because laws vary from one country to the next. Under French law, an author cannot sign away his or her rights, meaning that he or she can always claim a moral right in the work. In the USA, on the other hand, an author assigning his or her rights has no further say in the matter. But while CC doesn’t solve all the problems involved in protecting creative works, it does make life very much easier for authors, and the pictogram (see illustration above) has become a symbol of modernity and creativity. It is almost as cool as the Chanel logo! It’s hard to claim to be “on trend” any more unless you have at least one work under "CC"… (Which means I am not "on trend"). So there, you know what you have to do, get your brain cells geared up and write something, and you, too can have the huge satisfaction of putting the fabulous CC logo on your website or blog.