A thorough explanation of all types of Creative Commons (CC) 4.0 licenses! Detailed introduction to commercial use and features

The Creative Commons (CC) is on a mission to empower individuals and communities around the world by providing technical, legal, and policy solutions so that knowledge and culture can be shared for the public good.

Not all Creative Commons (CC) licenses are commercially available. Some licenses restrict commercial use. Specifically, the type of license allows for commercial use.

Licensing Evolution

There are versions of the Creative Commons (CC) license to respond to the needs of the times and the international legal system. The early 1.0 (2002) provided the basic mechanism, and after 2.0 (2004), the wording was simplified. In 3.0 (2007), a “ported version” adapted to the laws of each country appeared, but there were challenges that caused differences between countries. Therefore, in 4.0 (2013) it was designed as a fully unified international standard, adding database rights and reapplication mechanisms. Currently, 4.0 is the most used, and there are other options available, including CC0 (Public Domain), which completely waives copyright.

Versions of Creative Commons 3.0 or lower cannot be considered 4.0.
Each version has its own clauses, especially in 3.0, where there is a “national port version”, while 4.0 is designed as a complete international standard. Since the version specified at the time of licensing applies, works published under 3.0 or below will maintain their terms unless explicitly migrated to 4.0.

Types of Creative Commons License 4.0 and Commercial Use

1. CC BY (indication)
   • Commercial use: possible
   • Prerequisites: Credit display required.
2. CC BY-SA (Attribution – ShareA)
   • Commercial use: possible
   • Requirements: Credit + Published under the same CC BY-SA license.
3. CC BY-NC (Show – NonCommercial)
   • Commercial use: Not allowed
   • Requirements: Non-commercial only. Credit indication is required.
4. CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution – NonCommercial – ShareAlike)
   • Commercial use: Not allowed
   • Requirements: Non-commercial only. Credits + modified works are released under the same CC BY-NC-SA license.
5. CC BY-ND (Attribution – Do Not Modify)
   • Commercial use: possible
   • Prerequisite: Credit display. Modification is prohibited.
6. CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution – NonCommercial)
   • Commercial use: Not allowed
   • Requirements: Non-commercial only. Credit indication + modification prohibited.

Below is a tabular summary of the six types of CC0 and Creative Commons 4.0 licenses, in order of commercial use.

What does the Creative Commons (CC) license character code mean?

1. BY (Attribution)

• This means that credit indication is mandatory.
  • The author’s name, title, and license information must be clearly stated.
  • Common to all Creative Commons licenses.

2. SA (ShareAlike)

• It means the obligation to inherit.
  • If you publish a modified work, you must apply the same terms and conditions (SA) as the original license.
  • Example: If you modify a CC BY-SA work, you must also publish the modified work under CC BY-SA.

3. NC (Non-Commercial)

• It means non-commercial only.
  • You may use the work for non-commercial purposes only.
  • Commercial use (for monetization) is prohibited.

4. ND (NoDerivatives)

• It means that modification is prohibited.
  • The condition is that the original work is used in its original form.
  • No translations, remixes, reworkings, etc. are allowed.

Summary of character codes

Combinations according to the characteristics of the CC license

• CC BY: Display only → has the highest degree of freedom.
• CC BY-SA: Attribution + Inheritance Obligation → High degree of freedom, but license inheritance is still required after modification.
• CC BY-ND: Attribution + Do Not Modify → Cannot be modified, but may be used commercially.
• CC BY-NC: View + Non-Commercial→ Not for commercial use.
• CC BY-NC-SA: ATTRIBUTION + NON-COMMERCIAL + INHERITANCE OBLIGATION → For non-commercial use only, license inheritance is required even after modification.
• CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution + Non-Commercial + Non-Modification → Non-Commercial Only, No Modification, and the most restrictive.

Confirmation and precautions

• When using the material, be sure to check which CC license is applied.
• You must comply with licensing requirements (e.g., credit credit, non-commercial use, modification restrictions, etc.).
• Check the license terms on the official website for more information:

References

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Related Links

• License Details (Official)
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
• License Selection Guide (Official)
  https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/
• CC0 – Creative Commons Zero (overview page)
  https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
• CC0 Legal Code
  https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode