CC0 - Creative Commons

CC0 is a universal instrument that is not adapted to the laws of any ... public domain recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations were hard to find, ... Skiptocontent Helpusbuildavibrant,collaborativeglobalcommons DonateNow CreativeCommons>Shareyourwork>Publicdomain>CC0 Findnewsbytopic AboutCC Arts/culture BetterInternet CC-LicensedProjects Community Education/OER Events Globalaffiliates Journalism Legaltools/licenses Openaccess OpenClimateCampaign OpenCulture OpenCultureVOICES Opendata OpenJournalism Openscience Policy/advocacy/copyrightreform Press PublicDomain Shareyourwork Technology Uncategorized Weblog InthissectionCCLicensesandExamples Licensingconsiderations PublicdomainCC0 PublicDomainMark UnderstandingFreeCulturalWorks Placestoshare “NoRightsReserved” CC0enablesscientists,educators,artistsandothercreatorsandownersofcopyright-ordatabase-protectedcontenttowaivethoseinterestsintheirworksandtherebyplacethemascompletelyaspossibleinthepublicdomain,sothatothersmayfreelybuildupon,enhanceandreusetheworksforanypurposeswithoutrestrictionundercopyrightordatabaselaw. IncontrasttoCC’slicensesthatallowcopyrightholderstochoosefromarangeofpermissionswhileretainingtheircopyright,CC0empowersyetanotherchoicealtogether–thechoicetooptoutofcopyrightanddatabaseprotection,andtheexclusiverightsautomaticallygrantedtocreators–the“norightsreserved”alternativetoourlicenses. TheProblem Dedicatingworkstothepublicdomainisdifficultifnotimpossibleforthosewantingtocontributetheirworksforpublicusebeforeapplicablecopyrightordatabaseprotectiontermsexpire.Fewifanyjurisdictionshaveaprocessfordoingsoeasilyandreliably.Lawsvaryfromjurisdictiontojurisdictionastowhatrightsareautomaticallygrantedandhowandwhentheyexpireormaybevoluntarilyrelinquished.Morechallengingyet,manylegalsystemseffectivelyprohibitanyattemptbytheseownerstosurrenderrightsautomaticallyconferredbylaw,particularlymoralrights,evenwhentheauthorwishingtodosoiswellinformedandresoluteaboutdoingsoandcontributingtheirworktothepublicdomain. ASolution CC0helpssolvethisproblembygivingcreatorsawaytowaivealltheircopyrightandrelatedrightsintheirworkstothefullestextentallowedbylaw.CC0isauniversalinstrumentthatisnotadaptedtothelawsofanyparticularlegaljurisdiction,similartomanyopensourcesoftwarelicenses.Andwhilenotool,notevenCC0,canguaranteeacompleterelinquishmentofallcopyrightanddatabaserightsineveryjurisdiction,webelieveitprovidesthebestandmostcompletealternativeforcontributingaworktothepublicdomaingiventhemanycomplexanddiversecopyrightanddatabasesystemsaroundtheworld. UsingCC0 UnlikethePublicDomainMark,CC0shouldnotbeusedtomarkworksalreadyfreeofknowncopyrightanddatabaserestrictionsandinthepublicdomainthroughouttheworld.However,itcanbeusedtowaivecopyrightanddatabaserightstotheextentyoumayhavetheserightsinyourworkunderthelawsofatleastonejurisdiction,evenifyourworkisfreeofrestrictionsinothers.Doingsoclarifiesthestatusofyourworkunambiguouslyworldwideandfacilitatesreuse. YoushouldonlyapplyCC0toyourownwork,unlessyouhavethenecessaryrightstoapplyCC0toanotherperson’swork. Examples Europeana —Europe’sdigitallibrary —releasesitsmetadataintothepublicdomainusingCC0.Thismassivedatasetconsistsofdescriptiveinformationfromahugetroveofdigitizedculturalandartisticworks.Byremovingallrestrictionsontheuseofthemetadatathatdescribestheseculturalworks,Europeanacreatesopportunitiesfordevelopers,designers,andotherdigitalinnovatorstocreateapplications,gamesformobiledevices,andwebsitesthatvisualizeandrepresentthediversecollectionofartisticworksinEuropeana.SeeEuropeanareleases20millionrecordsintothepublicdomainusingCC0. figshareallowsresearcherstopublishalloftheirresearchoutputsinaneasilycitable,searchable,shareablemanner.FigsharehasadoptedCC0asthedefaulttoolforresearcherstosharetheirdatasets.Inmanycases,itcanbedifficulttoascertainwhetheradatabaseissubjecttocopyrightlaw,asmanytypesofdataaren’tcopyrightableinmanyjurisdictions.PuttingadatabaseordatasetinthepublicdomainunderCC0isawaytoremoveanylegaldoubtaboutwhetherresearcherscanusethedataintheirprojects.HundredsoforganizationsuseCC0todedicatetheirworktothepublicdomain.AlthoughCC0doesn’tlegallyrequireusersofthedatatocitethesource,itdoesnotaffecttheethicalnormsforattributioninscientificandresearchcommunities. OpenGoldbergVariations:BeforetheOpenGoldbergVariations,publicdomainrecordingsofBach’sGoldbergVariationswerehardtofind,eventhoughthescoresthemselveswereinthepublicdomain.OpenGoldbergVariationswantedtochangethat,soitteamedupwithprofessionalmusicianKimikoIshizakaandstartedaKickstarterprojecttocreatestudio-qualityrecordings,promisingtoreleasethemintothepublicdomainusingtheCC0publicdomaindedicationtool.Accordingtotheprojectfounders,“Musiciansareusuallynotwillingtowithdrawtheircopyrightsandtheircontroloverusage,butwefeelthattheythusmissopportunitiestocontributetothegreatergoodandbenefitfromwiderdistributionoftheirworks.Ifthisprojectsucceeds,wehopethattherecordingwillbeavailabletoeveryoneforevermore,andthatitwillbeatrulywidelyknownandenjoyedartisticwork.”Sureenough,theprojectwasfundedatnearlydoubleitsoriginalfundinggoal,andasaresultall30variationsperformedbyKimikoIshizakaarenowavailableforfreedownloadviaCC0. MetropolitanMuseumofArt:AllpublicdomainimagesinitscollectionaresharedunderCC0, whichexpandedtheirdigitalcollectionbyover375,000imagesaswellasprovideddataonover420,000museumobjectsspanningmorethan5,000years. Throughthepowerofthecommons,billionsofpeoplearenowabletoenjoythebeautyoftheMet’scollectionsaswellasparticipateinthecontinuedgrowthofthecommons,utilizingtheinfrastructurethatmakesgreatercollaborationpossible. Moreinfo ReadtheCC0FAQ ReadtheCC0summaryandlegaltext ApplyCC0toyourownwork InthissectionCCLicensesandExamples Licensingconsiderations PublicdomainCC0 PublicDomainMark UnderstandingFreeCulturalWorks Placestoshare Thegrowingcommons2.0billionworksandcounting.ExplorethesefeaturedCreativeCommonsLicensedresourcesbelow—fromliteraryworks,tovideos,photos,audio,openeducation,scientificresearchandmore!Oryoucanshareyourwork,andhelplightuptheglobalcommons!