What Is Creative Commons and Non-Commercial

Use?
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November 19, 2019

By Ben Stegner Nov 19, 2019

What is Creative Commons? What does "non-commercial use" mean? Learn about
Creative Commons licenses and how they work.

Did you know that most of the images, music, and other content on the internet are not
free to reuse for your own purposes? In most cases, unless you have permission to use a
piece of media, doing so is illegal.

This is where the Creative Commons license comes in. The system allows creators to
share their content online freely with others, imposing only minimal restrictions on its
use.

Let's take a look at what Creative Commons is, how to interpret a Creative Commons
license, and what "non-commercial use" means.

What Is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons is the name of an American non-profit company that releases
copyright licenses to the public at no cost. These licenses are known as Creative
Commons licenses, and were first issued in 2002.

The reason that Creative Commons (CC) licenses exist is to provide creators with an
easy way to define how other people can use their content. CC licenses also protect
normal users, as they don't have to worry about copyright infringement as long as they
follow the rules of the license.

The Creative Commons organization provides a variety of easy-to-understand licenses

that content creators can freely use. Creators display these alongside their licensed
works, which plainly describe the terms of fair play for anyone using them.

Creative Commons vs. Copyrighted Content

Not all content is CC-licensed. Consider the various types of media you'll commonly find
online:

Music on YouTube or SoundCloud

Images on Google Images, Flickr, or DeviantArt
A book or piece of educational material on a scholarly website

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With these and pretty much every other kind of media online, chances are that it either
has a license that forbids you to use it, or has no license at all. Both of these mean that
unless you obtain permission from the content creator, using that content in your own
work is illegal. Simply providing attribution isn't enough.

You've probably noticed a copyright symbol and/or an "All Rights Reserved" note on
music, movies, books, and other content. That means the creator retains all rights to the
media.

Image credit: Anna Cervova/Wikimedia Commons

In many cases online, there's no clearly defined license, so you can't assume that the
creator is OK with you using what they've made.

While it's still against the rules, content owners of course can't track down everyone
who pastes their image into a slideshow for a school presentation, or uses their song in
a family video. But if you use copyrighted content in high-profile work, you could get in
serious trouble.

Creative Commons Definitions

The Creative Commons license has four conditions you can add. Depending on what
combination of conditions appear, there are six major possible license types. Let's take a
look at these to better understand the available license options.

Creative Commons License Conditions

Each license condition has a matching symbol and abbreviation, letting you easily
identify what a particular license lets you do.

First up is the Attribution (BY) condition, which is present in almost all licenses. This
means that when using the content, you must give credit to the author in the way they
request. Usually, this means doing so in a way that makes it clear the creator does not
endorse your work.

Next is Share-alike (SA). This condition means that anyone who modifies the
material must distribute their derivative work under the same license. They cannot add
conditions without the original author's permission.

The third condition is Non-commercial (NC). Under this condition, you can use a
work freely for anything except "commercial purposes." The exact definition of this is
often unclear, so we look at it in more detail below.

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Finally, the No Derivative Works (ND) condition rounds out the bunch. This
prevents people from modifying your work in any way. They can only copy or display
the original content unless they have the author's permission. This condition is
incompatible with Share-alike.

Types of Creative Commons Licenses

Now that you know the four possible CC conditions, below are the six standard CC
license types from least to most restrictive.

Remember that SA and ND are mutually exclusive, which reduces the number of
possible combinations. In addition, because almost everyone who uses a CC license
requires attribution, licenses that don't include BY are rare.

A special case is CC0, which isn't technically a license. This allows creators to waive all
rights to their work and allow anyone in the world to use it for any purpose without
asking. It's technically different than something being in the public domain, but most
people use CC0 and "public domain" interchangeably.

CC BY lets people distribute and remix content, even for commercial purposes, as long
as they credit the original author.

CC BY-SA allows people to republish your content, including derivatives, even for
commercial purposes. However, they must credit you and relicense the new content
under the same terms as yours. This setup is known as "copyleft" in open source
software licensing, and is what Wikipedia uses.

Copyleft vs. Copyright: 3 Key Concepts You Need to Know

Content creators are beginning to embrace copyleft over copyright.
Here's what that means and why it's important, especially if you're a
creator yourself.

CC BY-ND gives people permission to reuse your work, even in commercial settings.
However, they cannot distribute modifications, and must give you credit.

A CC BY-NC enables users to display and remix content in non-commercial settings.

Under this license, you don't have to relicense derivative works with the same
conditions, but you must provide attribution.

CC BY-NC-SA lets people use and modify your work in non-commercial ways.
However, they must give you credit and license new creations with identical terms.

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Finally, CC BY-NC-ND is the most restrictive. It lets people download and share
content as long as they provide credit, but prevents them from changing the work or
using it in a commercial manner.

What Does "Non-Commercial Use" Mean?

Almost all aspects of Creative Commons licenses are clear-cut, aside from the "non-
commercial use" clause, which often confuses people. The Creative Commons Wiki's
NonCommercial interpretation page states the following:

"NonCommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial

advantage or monetary compensation."

This is helpful, but still leaves room for question. To take a pair of instances, using an
image on an invitation to a baby shower would be non-commercial. However, placing
that same image on an invitation to an auction would fall under commercial use.

Watch Video At: https://youtu.be/Dh0AE4pX5D0

Below are some additional examples of commercial and non-commercial use that help
illustrate what's allowed:

Non-commercial use includes school or work presentations, research, home

decorations, and similar uses.
Commercial use includes books for sale, paid journals, advertisements, and the
like.

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It's important to note that not-for-profit and non-commercial are different. A non-
profit company would not be allowed to use an affected image to sell a poster as part of
a fundraiser. Because the goal is to make money, regardless of who is making the
money, this is a commercial use.

However, a for-profit company could use a song in question for an internal video
celebrating the company's anniversary. Even though the company is for-profit, it is not
using the song to make money, so this is acceptable.

How to Get a Creative Commons License

You don't have to apply for a CC license to use one---they're provided free of charge for
anyone to use. You should to make sure your content is eligible for Creative Commons
before licensing it in this way. Have a look at the Get a CC License page for some
background info and FAQs before you jump in.

From there, head to the Creative Commons Choose a License page. Here you can answer
a few quick questions on how you want to distribute your work. This will dynamically
update the page to show the Creative Commons license that matches your choices.

At the bottom, you'll find copyable HTML code that will display the license on your
website. People can click this to read a summary of how that license works.

How to Find Creative Commons Content

Thankfully, it's not difficult to locate content licensed under CC.

If you're looking for images, check out the Creative Commons search engine. This lets
you search a vast library of images, also allowing you to specify if you want something
you can use for commercial purposes or modify.

You can also enable Creative Commons search on Google Images. Click Tools and
expand the Usage rights section for several options corresponding to license types.
Failing that, check out the best sites for copyright-free images if you didn't find what
you needed anywhere else.

Images aren't the only type of Creative Commons content available. We've covered the
best sites to find Creative Commons music and the best places to download copyright-
free music for your YouTube videos. And for a bit of everything, check out the best sites
for free stock videos, audio, and icons too.

Creative Commons Is Great for Everyone

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In the end, Creative Commons benefits all parties. Creators enjoy more exposure as
others interact with their work. Those who use the media have access to a variety of
legal content. And it helps the internet at large by allowing people to build off others'
work to create something even better.

If you're a content creator, you should know how to see who's stolen your photos and
what you can do about it.

About The Author

Ben Stegner (1556 Articles Published)

Ben is a Deputy Editor and the Onboarding Manager at MakeUseOf. He left his IT job to
write full-time in 2016 and has never looked back. He's been covering tech tutorials,
video game recommendations, and more as a professional writer for over six years.

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