What do you need to know about copyright when you want to (re)use educational resources?
How can you license educational materials you made, or compiled, under a Creative Commons License? This Wikiwijs arrangement teaches you how to do this without infringing on copyright.
Intended audience
This material is written for teachers at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. This means some of the content will focus on Dutch law. Note that as a teacher at a Dutch Universitiy of Applied Sciences you can make use of several exceptions to copyright. Creative Commons licenses do not reduce, limit, or restrict any rights under exceptions and limitations to copyright. This means that if an exception for education allows particular use, a Creative Commons license cannot restrict this. For information about what exceptions to copyright you can make use of as a teacher, check the website of the Copyright Information Point.
Important:
Please note that is guide is not intended to provide or replace legal advice.
The information provided represents the author's understanding of openly licensed content and copyright and is subject to change.
Copyright basics
The instant an work is created it is protected by copyright. Copyright protects all works of literature, science, and art that are original.
In Dutch law a work is original enough to get copyright if:
It has its own and original character
It bears ‘the personal stamp’ of the creator
Not copyrightable
A commonly known fact like ‘Grass is green’ is not original enough to receive copyright. Also not copyrightable are data, techniques, methods and ideas and thoughts that have not (yet) been materialized. Take note: Other rights may still apply, like trademark law or patent law.
What does this mean for you?
According to copyright law only the copyright holder of a work has the right to decide how (and if) others may make the work public or to reproduce it. This means that, if, for example, you find an article online according to copyright law you may not copy and share it with your students. When you yourself create an original work, e.g. course material, this is also automatically copyrighted. If others want to (re)use it they will need permission. Note that the maker of a work may not be the copyright holder. For works created in employment the employer may be the copyright holder.
Exceptions for education
Because the copyright rules are quite strict, the law contains limitations and exceptions. These benefit (among others) education, libraries and people with disabilities. Teachers at Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences can make use of exceptions in copyright for education. E.g. the Easy Access Agreement is a practical implementation of an exception in copyright law. To learn more check out the website of the Copyright Information Point at: https://rotterdamuas.com/copyright
As you’ve just read copyright law restricts the use and sharing of works.
To make this less restrictive Creative Commons licenses have been created. You will read more about these in the next segment.
What is Creative Commons?
Creative Commons
Due to copyright law you need permission to if you want to share or alter a work.
This forms a mismatch with the ease the internet offers to share, access and collaborate.
Creative Commons licenses (CC licenses) have been created as an alternative for creators who want to share their work with less restrictions.
In the next segment you will learn more about the different Creative Commons licenses there are and what they permit.
CC license building blocks
There are several different Creative Commons Licenses. If you want to use a material that has a Creative Commons license it is key to check which license is used. A material’s license indicates what is allowed. When you yourself want to give a work you’ve created a Creative Commons license, what you want to permit determines which of the licenses is suitable to apply.
The building blocks of Creative Commons Licenses
There are 4 building blocks that are used in Creative Commons licenses.
The building blocks stand for 4 different terms of use:
If you know these building blocks, the meaning of a Creative Commons license is easy to figure out.
In the next segment you will learn more about the 6 CC licenses.
The 6 CC licenses
The building blocks that you've seen in the previous segment combine to form the 6 Creative Commons licenses:
On the website of Creative Commons you can also read a description of each of these licenses.
In the next segment some of the intricacies of the licenses are explained.
Explanation of the license terms
In the previous segment you’ve learned which Creative Commons licenses there are and what they permit and require. The requirement of attribution under BY is pretty clear cut. The other terms of use have some intricacies for which additional explanation may be helpful.
NC, Non-commercial use
Non-commercial use is defined by Creative Commons as “not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation.” So, this depends on the use, not the user. For instance, you are a non-profit school and you want to sell your students notebooks with an image on the cover. If that image had a NC license this use would not be permitted.
NC also applies to the user of a work, not to the creator. Someone who licensed work with a NC license may still offer commercial permissions to fee-paying customers for this work. While also offering your material to the public under a NonCommercial license.
ND, No derivatives
The ND licenses does not allow adaptations or derivatives of the work to be shared. This means that if you make changes to a work with a ND license, you are not allowed to share the altered version with others. If your changes create a ‘derivative’ also plays a part in this.
Changes that are not seen as making are derivative are:
Mechanical reproduction into a different format. E.g. from paper to PDF.
Spelling corrections
Using an unaltered excerpt in your work, e.g. a citation
SA, Share alike
If youadapta work with a SA license by changing it or basing a new work on it, you will have to share your ‘adaptation’ under the same license as the SA licensed work you’ve based it on. More information on this can be found at Creativecommons.org under ‘compatible licenses’.
Mixing differently licensed works
Take care that ‘mixing’ (or blending) works together that have different Creative Commons licenses may not always be allowed. You can read more about mixing and compiling works under ‘Reusing CC works’.
What is Public Domain?
The public domain consists of works that are free of copyright. This means you don’t need permission to use, alter or share these works. For instance, many classic artworks and literature are in the public domain.
Expired copyright: life +70 years
In the European Union copyright expires 70 years after the death of the maker.
If a company holds the copyright or the creator is anonymous 70 years after first publication.
It's also possible a work was never entitled to copyright to begin with. For more information on this, read the segment on Copyright Basics in this wiki.
How do you recognize a Public Domain work
It can be difficult to recognize if a work is in the public domain. There are two labels that can be used to make a public domain work recognizable as such:
The CC0 license:
A creator can choose to dedicate their work to the public domain. The CC0 license can then be used to show they disclaim copyright on their work. CC0 is a creative commons license. It uses the same design and approach as the other CC licenses. This means it's a copyright tool with a legal approach.
The Public Domain Mark:
This marks a work is free of copyright restrictions. The mark is a label without legal effect, it's mainly a means to recognize public domain works.
Although public domain works are free of copyright, you should take note of the following:
Moral rights may still exist
This means that if distortion, misrepresentation or interference of the work negatively affects the makers honour, the maker or their descendants could protest.
A work may be in the public domain in one country, but not in another Different countries have different terms for copyright expiration. Follow the rules of the country where you (re)use the work. E.g. in Mexico copyright expires 100 years after the death of the maker, in Yemen this is only 30 years. Some countries may have extentions or other rules in their copyright law that make it less clear cut if something it in the Public Domain. For instance, The diary of Anne Frank is in not yet in the public domain in the Netherlands. You can read more about this in: Public Domain: why it is not that simple in Europe, by Katarzyna Strycharz.
Other intellectual property restrictions may apply
E.g. a logo of the publisher on the cover of a public domain book may be protected by trademark law.
Take note of privacy or culturally or morally sensitive issues
E.g. works that are cultural heritage of Indigenous communities. Check out Mukurtu, and the Traditional Knowledge Labels to learn more about this.
Derivatives of public domain works may be copyrighted
If someone used a public domain work to turn it into a new work, this creator will have copyright on the parts of the new work that are new and original.
Where do you find public domain works
Not all public domain works will be marked with a CC0 license or a Public Domain mark. There are however websites that offer mainly public domain sources. For example Project Gutenberg, Public Domain Review,Europeana, Flickr’s the Commons, the Smithsonian and the Rijksmuseum. Check out the next segment for more handy sources.
The 3 layers of a license
Creative Commons licenses are built using a three-layer design.
Legal code: “Lawyer-readable” terms and conditions that are legally enforceable in court.
Example: the legal code of CC BY
Commons deed: The license explained in “human-readable” terms. These deeds are not legally enforceable; they only summarize the legal code. In a deed you can find the link to the legal code.
Example: the deed for CC BY
CC Rights expression language (CC REL): A “machine readable” version of the license including the key freedoms granted and obligations imposed of a license. CC REL is formatted to be readable by applications, search engines and other kinds of technology. You can read more about CC REL in the CC wiki.
In this chapter you've learned what CC licenses are, what the different licenses are and what they permit.
The next segment will tell you how to find these materials.
Where can you find CC works?
There are many open resources you can find since there are over 2 billion materials with a Creative Commons license online. Open resources can have many forms and formats, e.g. images, video, collections, data, music, texts or complete courses.
When you've found great CC licensed materials you may want to share them with others.
In the next segment you will learn what you need to take into consideration when sharing CC works.
Reusing CC works
There are different ways you can (re)use a work with a Creative Commons License.
You can:
Share it unaltered
Share it in a collection with other works
Share it altered and/or mixed in with other works
To make sure you follow the rules of the CC license, there are things to consider for each of these ways of use. Note, if your use falls under an exception or limitation to copyright (like the Easy Access Agreement), you don't have to mind the rules pertaining to the CC license or 'all rights reserved' status of a material.
In the next sections you will learn what you have to take into account when (re)using CC licensed materials.
Sharing unaltered works
Sharing is allowed with all of the CC licenses.
If you want to share a Creative Commons work that you haven't altered there are only two things to take into account.
Take note of the following when sharing CC licensed works:
Attribute
Check section 'How to attribute' for information on providing attribution.
NonCommercial (NC) works
If it has one of the NonCommercial licenses (NC), don't share it with a commercial purpose
Sharing a collection or compilation
A collection is a compilation of works in which each of the materials is still distinctly separate, e.g. a reader with several articles.
Take note of the following when you include CC licensed material in a collection:
Attribute
Provide attribution for all shared materials, including their license. Check section 'How to attribute' for information on providing attribution.
NonCommercial (NC) licenses
Only include NonCommercial (NC) licensed works in collections you don't share commercially.
Copyrighted works without a CC license
If including copyrighted works, make sure sharing is allowed. E.g. make use of citation rights.
You may CC license the collection
This license applies only to your creative additions. E.g. a foreword, layout, the way you've compiled it.
The works you've compiled regain their own licenses, which you must show clearly.
If it contains copyrighted works without a CC license, make clear these works are ‘all rights reserved’.
The segment 'Licensing your work' addresses how to choose a license.
Notes on this collection
Note that none of the works have been altered, they are also still distinctly separate. Each work has a clear attribution and retains its own CC license. The work also has its own title and CC license as seen in the attribution underneath it. The CC license of this collection only applies to creative additions by the compiler of this collection, not to the images compiled in it. For example, some of the creative additions in this collection are: The composition of the images and their attribution, the added picture frames and the drawn figure.
Sharing altered or mixed works
In copyright law (and therefore Creative Commons) it's important to understand when a work is an adaptation and when it is not. For one this will effect what you are permitted to do with works licensed with NoDerivatives (ND). It also has effect on what license you yourself can apply to a material you've based on other CC works.
Adaptations
When you create an original new work based on another work this is called making an adaptation.
Because the new work is original it will have its own copyright protection.
Examples of works original enough to be deemed adaptations are:
Translations
Films based on novels
A remix. This is a material in which CC works are blended in a way you can’t easily tell them apart anymore. E.g. a collage in which images overlap each other or a reader in which multiple CC works are blended so you can't tell where one ends and the other begins.
Alterations that are not creative enough to be considered adaptations are:
Spelling corrections
Digitally enhancing or changing the format (e.g. paper to PDF) or citations
A collection of unaltered, distinctly separate works (see previous segment on collections)
Take note of the following when adapting or remixing CC works:
Attribute
Provide attribution to all individual parts that went into making your adaptation, including their license. Check section 'How to attribute' for more information.
Copyrighted works without a CC license
If your adaptation contains copyrighted works without a CC license make sure sharing of these works is allowed, e.g. through citation rights. An example of this is a table you use to illustrate a point.
Make clear these works are ‘all rights reserved’. Also note the presence of these works in your CC license, for instance by stating: "Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed via CC BY 4.0".
NoDerivative (ND) works
Even though sharing derivatives of works with a ND license is not allowed, they can be incorporated into other works. Just as long as they remain unaltered, e.g. an unaltered image or excerpt.
You may CC license your adaptation
Take note that your license must be compatible with the licenses of the works you have reused.
The segment 'Licensing your work' addresses compatibility and how to choose a license.
Not all CC licenses are compatible for mixing
Take note that you may not be allowed to mix works with certain licenses together.
Check the CC license compatibility chart below to see if works are compatible to be mixed together.
All Creative Commons licenses require you to give attribution to the creator.
Works that are in the Public Domain do not require attribution, though giving credit is considered best practice. This segment advices on attribution required under the Creative Commons licenses. It does not advice on use of specific referral styles (e.g. APA 7).
Attribution requirements Creative Commons Wiki states the CC licenses have an “attribution requirement in any reasonable manner based on the medium, means and context in which the Licensed Material is used”. So, if attribution is included in a copyright notice, this would be fine. The priority is clarity on where and whom the work originated from and what its license is. This information credits the creator and will also help new (re)users of the work.
Components of a Creative Commons attribution:
Title: If a title is provided, use this in your attribution. (Up to Version 4.0 of the CC licenses referencing the title is required.)
Author: This is the licensor, the person who allows the (re)use of the work. When you use a CC work that mentions both the original author and someone who has adapted the work, mention both in your attribution. Refer to the version you are using.
Source: State where the work can be found. This can be done by giving out the URL or linking. Using the original URL is preferred over sharing a shortened link.
License: Name the CC license of the work you (re)used and provide a link to the CC licence deed.
If the licenser included disclaimers on copyright, consider including these as well to inform (re)users of this work.
These attribution elements are often referred to by their acronym: TASL.
Material shared as hardcopy
When you share CC materials as hardcopy (paper) include written-out URL’s.
Example:
“Modern Fiction” (http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91c) by Virginia Woolf is licensed under the BY-NC-SA license (2.5 AU) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/au/deed.en).
Attribution for an adaptation of a work with a CC license
This work, “Your title" is adapted from “Title of original work" by Name Author, used under the CC BY-XX license.
“Your title” is licensed under CC BY-XX by Your Name.
Adaptation
If you've changed an image in a way that it is now an adaptation, you can choose to apply a CC license to the changed image. In the example below the adaptation was made by 'Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences'.
An adaptation also gets its own title, in the example below this is “Black cat screaming”.
You can read more about adaptations under the segment ‘Reusing CC works’ and more about applying a CC license under ‘Licensing your work’.
Example of an adapted image:
Public Domain works
You are not legally required to provide attribute for Public Domain materials, yet it is good practice to do so. Providing source information is considered crucial to academic integrity, it also gives clarity to the user of your work on both the creator and the (Public Domain) status. It is also good practice to name the institution that digitized the work (in the example below this is Artelino).
In the next segment you will learn how to apply your own CC license to works you have created, mixed, compiled or adapted.
Licensing your work
Where to start
When you have created a completely new work, an adaptation or a collection you may apply a Creative Commons license to it. Doing this will make it easier for your work to be utilized in education and by society at large. You can read more on the benefits of sharing open resources in education in the wikiwijs ‘Open Educational Resources at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences’.
Who may license a work
A license may only be applied by the copyright holder of a work.
Also take the following into consideration:
Collaborations
If you’ve collaborated on a work the copyright is shared. Therefore, all creators must give consent when applying a CC license.
Work made in employment
Note that the copyright holder is not always the creator of the work. For works created in employment the employer may hold the copyright. This is usually the case in universities of applied sciences. A publication policy usually prescribes if and how employees may license materials.
At Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences there is currently no official policy on licensing educational resources, though the granting of CC licences by staff is condoned.
Did you include materials made by others?
Which license you may choose is influenced by the way you've used other CC licensed materials in your work.
First determine which of the options below applies to the material you will be licensing.
Licensing completely self-made material
This is a work in which no other CC licensed works have been (re)used
Licensing a collection
This is a compilation of CC licensed works, in which each of the used materials is still distinctly separate
Licensing an adaptation
This is a new work based on one or more existing works. The used existing works have been altered or blended in sufficiently for the new work to be entitled to its own copyright
What to consider when licensing each of these types of works, will be explained in the next segments.
Licensing completely self-made materials
This applies to a completely new work you have created; it does not contain other Creative Commons works or adaptations.
What CC license can you apply to a self-made work:
Your institution's prescribed license
Institutions may prescribe a specific licence. Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences publication policy advises a CC BY license for publishing research. There is currently no policy that applies to educational resources, though CC BY is also commonly advised for this as well.
Any of the 6 CC licenses
If your institution has no prescribed license, you can choose any of the 6 CC licenses.
Which you should choose depends on the kind of (re)use you want to permit.
Under ‘What is Creative Commons’ you can check out each of the licenses and their conditions.
Take note: If your work contains copyrighted works without a CC license, make sure sharing is allowed! An example of this is the use of a table to illustrate a point. Make clear these specific works are ‘all rights reserved’ and provide attribution. Make clear in your CC license that it contains these works, e.g. “Except otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license”.
Licensing collections
This applies to a work that contains a collection of CC licensed works.
For more information and examples of this type of work, check the segment on collections under 'Reusing CC works '.
What CC license can you apply to a collection:
Any of the 6 CC licenses
The license you apply only applies to your own creative additions; the works the collection contains all regain their own CC licenses. Therefore, any of the 6 CC licenses could be applied to the collection. Which license you should choose depends on if your institution has a prescribed license. If not, consider the kind of (re)use you want to permit. Under ‘What is Creative Commons’ you can check out each of the licenses and their conditions.
Your institution's prescribed license
Institutions may prescribe a specific licence. Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences publication policy advises a CC BY license for publishing research. There is currently no policy that applies to educational resources, though CC BY is also commonly advised for this as well.
Licensing adaptations
This applies to a work that is an adaptation or remix of CC licensed work(s).
For more information and examples of this type of work, check the segment on altered or mixed works under 'Reusing CC works '.
Which CC license can you apply to an adaptation:
Compatibility
Your license must be compatible with the licenses of all the works included in your adaptation. Use the ‘CC Adapter’s license chat’ below to check which licenses fit. TIP: Pick the most restrictive license from the original works you’ve reused.
Choosing between compatible licenses
If there are several compatible licenses consider: 1. Your institution's prescribed license
Institutions may prescribe a specific licence. Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences publication policy advises a CC BY license for publishing research. There is currently no policy that applies to educational resources, though CC BY is also commonly advised for this as well. 2. No prescribed license
If your institution has no prescribed license, you can choose any of the compatible CC licenses.
Which you should choose depends on the kind of (re)use you want to permit.
Under ‘What is Creative Commons’ you can check out each of the licenses and their conditions.
Marking your work with a license
Once you have chosen a CC license for your material, the next step is to visibly apply the license to the material.
The easiest way to compose a license statement is by using the CC license chooser. Placement of the license
There are no fixed rules as to where you display your license statement.
It's most important to choose a place where the user of your material can easily find it. E.g. in the copyright notice for your work, the footer of your website or the footer of a document.
Author: The name of the copyright holder(s). Ideally include a link to your profile or website.
Source: Provide a link to where the work can be found, so (re)users will be able to retrace its origin.
License: The CC license you have chosen and a link of the license deed.
Presence of third party materials: If you've adapted work by others in your material, note this in your license statement. E.g. This work is adapted from...
Title: Stating the title in your license statement makes it easier for users to attribute. Up to Version 4.0 of the CC licenses referencing the title of a work is required for (re)users of a work.
Year: The year of creation.
Additional permissions: If you want to grant users permission beyond what the CC license allows, note this in your license statement. E.g. Attribution not required for non-commercial use. Note that you may not remove any rights included in a CC license.
Website
Except when otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under CC BY 4.0 Note: Also add machine readable code of the license to your site, so it can be read by search engines. You can copy this code when using the CC license chooser.
What if you change your mind after applying a Creative Commons license to your work?
This is what you need to know:
A CC license cannot be revoked
The creator is free to remove the copy of the work they placed online.
If a reuser finds it under the original license however, they are legally permitted to use it under the original terms.
The creator is free to also offer the work under a different license.
For instance, you can offer your material to the public under a NC license and offer commercial permissions to paying customers.
Any questions?
For questions regarding the content ot this Wikiwijs arrangement please contact
the Copyright Information Point (CIP) at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences:
Het arrangement Creative Commons for Teachers is gemaakt met
Wikiwijs van
Kennisnet. Wikiwijs is hét onderwijsplatform waar je leermiddelen zoekt,
maakt en deelt.
Dit lesmateriaal is gepubliceerd onder de Creative Commons Naamsvermelding 4.0 Internationale licentie. Dit houdt in dat je onder de voorwaarde van naamsvermelding vrij bent om:
het werk te delen - te kopiëren, te verspreiden en door te geven via elk medium of bestandsformaat
het werk te bewerken - te remixen, te veranderen en afgeleide werken te maken
voor alle doeleinden, inclusief commerciële doeleinden.
The instant an work is created it is protected by copyright. Copyright protects all works of literature, science, and art that are original.
copyrighted. If others want to (re)use it they will need permission. Note that the maker of a work may not be the copyright holder. For works created in employment the employer may be the copyright holder.
Exceptions for education
There are several different Creative Commons Licenses. If you want to use a material that has a Creative Commons license it is key to check which license is used. A material’s license indicates what is allowed. When you yourself want to give a work you’ve created a Creative Commons license, what you want to permit determines which of the licenses is suitable to apply. 
directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation.” So, this depends on the use, not the user. For instance, you are a non-profit school and you want to sell your students notebooks with an image on the cover. If that image had a NC license this use would not be permitted.
domain. The CC0 license can then be used to show they disclaim copyright on their work. CC0 is a creative commons license. It uses the same design and approach as the other CC licenses. This means it's a copyright tool with a legal approach.
There are many open resources you can find since there are over 2 billion materials with a Creative Commons license online. Open resources can have many forms and formats, e.g. images, video, collections, data, music, texts or complete courses.
do not require attribution, though giving credit is considered best practice. This segment advices on attribution required under the Creative Commons licenses. It does not advice on use of specific referral styles (e.g. 
