Creative Commons tools give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a clear, standardized way to grant permission to others to use their creative work in ways copyright would otherwise prohibit. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license answers the question, “what can I do with this” by providing freedom to reuse, subject to clearly defined conditions.

All Creative Commons licenses ensure that creators retain their copyright and get credit for their work, while permitting others to copy and distribute their work. Although the tools are designed to be as easy to use as possible, there are still some things to learn in order to fully understand how they work.

The CC license unit has four sections:
3.1 License Design and Terminology
3.2 License Scope
3.3 License Types
3.4 License Enforceability

There are also additional resources if you are interested in learning more about any of the topics covered in this unit.