Copyright at MIT: Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons (CC) has a wonderful vision: universal access to research and education, full participation in culture - to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity.

• "a some rights reserved" approach to copyright: The CC tools give you a simple, standardised way to retain your copyright while allowing certain uses of your work. This "some rights reserved" approach greatly enhances the compatibility of your work with the full potential of the internet.
• Contribute to a growing digital commons: Your work will add to a diverse and growing digital commons, a pool of content that can be copied, distributed, edited, remixed and built upon, all within the boundaries of copyright law.
• Legal: CC licences are legally solid, globally applicable and responsive to users' needs.

This text is a derivative from About - Creative Commons webpage by Creative Commons / CC BY 3.0.

There are some things you should consider before applying a Creative Commons licence:

• Is the work copyrightable? CC licences only apply to ideas, facts or content which is copyrightable. Check the Copyright Basics page to see what type of works are copyrightable in Australia.
• Are you the rightful owner? Are you authorised to license the work under the specific CC licence you are interested in using? You should not apply a licence to a work that you do not own or that you are not authorised to licence.
• Are you a member of a collecting society? Collecting societies are copyright management organisations, for e.g. APRA. If you are part of one, you should check with your collecting society to see if is alright to apply a CC licence to your work.
• Are you sure about applying a CC Licence? CC licences are irrevocable. You can stop offering the work under a CC licence at any time, but this will not affect the rights associated with any copies of your work already in circulation absent a breach by a particular licencee (which does not affect continual use of the work by other licencees).

This text is a derivative from Frequently Asked Questions - CC wiki webpage by Creative Commons / CC BY 3.0.

The Licence-choosing tool guides you into selecting and generating a licence that is right for you.

1. Fill in the questionnaire: Visit the Creative Commons website and fill in the licence-choosing tool. Pick a style for the buttons.
2. Insert the generated code: Copy and paste the generated code into your html code.
3. Edit if necessary: If you change your mind about something, such as the title, click the 'Back' browser and edit the questionnaire.

For a visual demonstration, view the Wanna Work Together video on the right hand side.

Version 4.0 of CC's core license suite was published on 25 November 2013.