TVETipedia Glossary

Creative Commons licenses (CC)

Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, What can I do with this work?

There are six different license types, listed here from most to least permissive:

CC BY
CC BY-SA
CC BY-NC
CC BY-NC-SA
CC BY-ND
CC BY-NC-ND

BY: Credit must be given to the creator.

SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.

ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.

Source:
Creative Commons website, About CC licenses

Creative Commons licences are model agreements. They are used to give the public the right to use a work protected by copyright. The fewer restrictions a licence contains, the better the licenced work can be distributed and used.

Source:
UNESCO website, The Creative Commons licences (accessed 3/2025)

Creative Commons licenses provide an easy way to manage the copyright terms that attach automatically to all creative material under copyright. Our licenses allow that material to be shared and reused under terms that are flexible and legally sound. Creative Commons offers a core suite of six copyright licenses. Because there is no single “Creative Commons license,” it is important to identify which of the six licenses you are applying to your material, which of the six licenses has been applied to material that you intend to use, and in both cases the specific version.

Source:
Creative Commons, Frequently Asked Questions, What are Creative Commons licenses? (accessed 3/2025)