Creative Commons is a nonprofit founded in 2001 that develops public licenses and public-domain tools for sharing creative and scholarly material. The organization is distinct from its licenses and licensed works.
Lawrence Lessig, Hal Abelson and Eric Eldred founded Creative Commons in 2001. The first CC licenses followed in 2002, offering standardized terms for creators who wanted to authorize reuse in advance.
The tools operate within copyright rather than abolishing it. They let right holders reserve some rights and grant others without transferring management of all creative work to one organization.
The six core copyright licenses combine attribution with differing conditions concerning commercial use, adaptations and share-alike. Saying only “CC licensed” does not identify the applicable permission or version.
CC0 provides a public-domain dedication mechanism, while the Public Domain Mark identifies material already in the worldwide public domain. These tools have different purposes from copyright licenses.
Creators do not need to register with CC before applying its tools to material they are entitled to license. Permission for an individual work comes from its right holder, not from ownership by Creative Commons.
Providing standard documents and guidance does not make CC a universal rights-clearing agency. Additional permissions beyond a work’s existing grant must be sought from the relevant rights holder.
Creative Commons. History, chronology entries for 2001 and 2002. Undated. View source ↗
Creative Commons. Frequently Asked Questions, updated 13 May 2025: About CC; What are Creative Commons licenses?; How do CC licenses operate?; Who gives permission? View source ↗
Creative Commons. Sharing Openly, Sharing Globally, The CC Licenses: BY, BY-SA, BY-ND and NC elements. Undated. View source ↗
Revision history
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v1First edition
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