Creative Commons

This launch was preceded by eight-months work with iCommons (International Commons), the body internationally responsible for these licences.

The licences were translated along with iCommons and adapted to the Portuguese legal framework. This was followed by a period of public consultation and, after this, the licences were made publicly available at http://creativecommons.org/international/pt/.

The Creative Commons licenses allow for open sharing of knowledge and works by their authors in a simple, efficient and highly flexible manner, through a set of standard licences which ensure protection and freedom – along with some reserved rights.

These licenses are completely free of charge. They are positioned between copyright (all rights reserved) and the public domain. By means of the Creative Commons Licenses, the author proactively and constructively sets the conditions by which the work is shared with third parties. All licences require credit to be given to the author of the work, in the manner specified by the author. They are an instrument enabling the legal sharing and reuse of cultural, educational and scientific works.

It is estimated that by the middle of 2006 Creative Commons licenses had been used more than 140 million times worldwide since being launched on 16 December 2002 by Professor Larry Lessig.

Licences:

Attribution (by)

Choose the Licence by
This is the most permissive of all the options. Under the terms of this license, use of the work is free and users can use commercially or create works based on the original work. The only essential part is that credit should be given to the author, where due.

Attribution – NonCommercial Use (by-nc)

Choose the licence by-nc
Under this license, the author allows considerable use of his/her work. The only limitation is that it cannot be used for commercial gain. It is also essential that credit should be given to the author of the original work, where due.

Attribution – ShareAlike under the Terms of the Same Licence (by-sa)

Choose the licence by-sa
When an author opts for such a licence, he/she seeks credit not only for creating the work, but also for works derived from it to be licensed under the same terms as his/her own original work. This licence is often compared to free software licences.

Attribution – NoDerivs, No Derivatives allowed (by-nd)

Choose licence by-nd
This licence enables commercial or non-commercial redistribution, as long as the work being used is the whole work and has not been altered. It is also essential that credit should be given to the author of the original work, where due.

Attribution – NonCommerical Use – ShareAlike under the Terms of the Same Licence (by-nc-sa)

Choose licence by-nc-sa
Under the terms of this licence commercial use of the licensed work is not allowed and works derived from it must be licensed under the same terms as the original work. It is also essential that credit should be given to the author of the original work, where due.

Attribution – NonCommerical Use - NoDerivs, No Derivatives allowed (by-nc-nd)

Choose licence by-nc-nd
This is the most restrictive of all the options available to the author, enabling only redistribution. By using this license, both commercial use and derivative works are outlawed. Given its nature, this licence is often called the “free publicity” licence.

Examples of applications of Creative Commons licenses
MIT facilitated access to the contents of its courses
MIT has made the contents of many of its taught courses of its programmes available through the MIT OpenCourseware service under a Creative Commons Licence. Some of its teaching staff, such as Prof. Eric Von Hippel of the Sloan School of Management, allow full access to some of their books, whereby any Internet user anywhere in the world can download them online and print them.

Pearl Jam launched their new single on the Internet using Creative Commons licenses
Pearl Jam were pioneers in launching their single "Life Wasted" under a Creative Commons license (non-commercial use and no derivatives attribution)

 In this way, any person in any part of the world may legally copy, distribute and share the clip.

Microsoft has facilitated the use of Creative Commons licences
The Microsoft Corporation recently launched an add-in which enables licensing with a Creative Commons Licence for any document produced in Microsoft Office. The first document licensed with this technology was the speech by the Brazilian Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil, which was given at the Creative Commons Summit in 2006, in Rio de Janeiro.

The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences of the Portuguese Catholic University (FCEE – UCP) and INTELI – Intelligence in Innovation   organised a seminar on 15 December 2006, from 9:00 to 13:00, at the Catholic University’s Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences, which was entitled Creative Commons in the Knowledge Society: The Impact of the first 4 years (text in Portuguese), to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the Creative Commons Licences.

For more information, visit: http://creativecommons.org/international/pt/