creative commons for singapore national library

The Beauty of Some RightsReserved: An Introduction to

Creative Commons

Molly Kleinmanmakleinm@umich.edu

University of Michigan LibraryAugust 1, 2008

Outline

• The broken copyright system• Enter Creative Commons• The role of Creative Commons in libraries• Finding and using licensed work• Using Creative Commons licenses

The Broken Copyright System

The purpose of copyright

In the United States Constitution, thestated purpose of copyright law is “Topromote the progress of Science anduseful Arts.”

A similar philosophy is at the heart ofcopyright law all over the world.

Copyright basics

A bundle of rights…• The right to publish the work• The right to copy the work• The right to prepare derivative works• The right to display or perform the work• The right to license any of the above to third

parties.

Copyright basics

• Copyright happens automatically themoment a work is created

• Copyright lasts for the life of the creatorplus 70 years

• Copyright law is a complicatedpatchwork of updates, extensions, andinternational treaties.

Problems with the currentsystem

• Copyright holders who are difficult orimpossible to locate

• Uncertain right status of older works• Ordinary people deal with copyrighted

work every day, but the law is socomplicated, and so skewed in favor ofbig corporations, that they are at aconstant disadvantage.

Enter Creative Commons

What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons provides free legal tools thatlet authors, scientists, artists, and educatorseasily mark their creative work with thefreedoms they want it to carry.

Why Creative Commons?

Copyright comes with several rights, andcreators may not want or need all ofthem.

Before Creative Commons, there was noeasy way for creators to give away rights,even if they wanted to.

Creative CommonsInternational

• The licenses have been ported to 47countries, including Singapore, withlicenses pending in 8 more.

• The porting process includes bothlinguistic translation and legal adaptation.

• There are offices in the U.S., Germany,and Brazil

Mix and Match Licenses

AttributionNon-CommercialShare AlikeNo Derivative Works

Creators combine the different elements tocreate a license that suits their needs, and tellsusers what they can and can’t do with thework.

The six major licenses

AttributionAttribution Share AlikeAttribution No DerivativesAttribution NoncommercialAttribution Noncommercial Share AlikeAttribution Noncommercial No Derivatives

Three kinds of code

1) Human Readable2) Lawyer Readable3) Machine Readable

Human Readable Code

Lawyer Readable Code

Machine Readable Code

<a rel="license"href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">

<img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/3.0/88x31.png" />

</a><br />This<span xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"

href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/"rel="dc:type">work</span> is licensed under a

<a rel="license"href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License</a>.

Creative Commons in librariesand cultural institutions

Problems that CC helps solve

• Ambiguous copyright status• Lack of good resources that are free

from copyright restrictions• Difficulty sharing library-produced

content more broadly

Two ways to engageAs both producers and consumers of

copyrighted work…

• Libraries can adopt CC licenses for theirown creations, and encourage creatorsoutside the institution to use the licenses

• Libraries can collect CC licensed workand teach their users how to find it.

Where to find licensed work

• http://flickr.com• http://ccmixter.com• http://creativecommons.org• http://google.com/advanced_search

How to use licensed works

• Make sure that your use complies withthe terms of the license

• If your work will be online, include a linkback to the original work

• Attribute the original creator• Include the Creative Commons license

What can be licensed?

• Photographs• Video• Articles• Illustrations• Websites• Music• Any copyrighted creation, especially if it

is online.

Choosing a license

• Do you hold the copyright?• Are you comfortable with people profiting

from your work?• Are you comfortable with people

changing your work?• Do you want derivatives of your work to

carry Creative Commons licenses?

Applying a license

• Visit http://creativecommons.org topick a license.

• Copy and paste the code into yourwebsite.

A license notice

This work is licensed under a CreativeCommons Attribution NoncommercialSingapore 3.0 license.

Credits

“CC on Orange,” “CC on DISK” by Yamashita Yohei,http://www.flickr.com/photos/monana7“Creative Commons Moon” by Jeffrey Beall,http://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey“Warhol Creative Commons” by Barbara Galbraith,http://www.flickr.com/photos/bargal“A Spectrum of Rights” panel by Ryan Junell,http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/comics1Santa with CC logo by Lai Hiu-yeung Ryanne,http://www.flickr.com/photos/laihiu