Copyright & Creative Commons

Submitted by: Muhammad Aslam

Submitted to: Sir Tahir Nazeer
LLB (4th Semester)
Roll # 2407

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

ISLAMABAD

Topic: Copyright & Creative Commons

Key Points:
What is Copyright?
What is Creative Commons?
Types of Creative Commons Licenses
How to Use Others Creative Commons Content
What is Copyright?
Copyright is a way to protect the original works of authorship of
published and unpublished work, usually expressed in a tangible
way. On a high level these types of works are protected:
literary works
musical works, including any accompanying words
dramatic works, including any accompanying music
pantomimes and choreographic works
pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
motion pictures and other audiovisual works
sound recordings
architectural works
Several of these categories are directly applicable to content
made available online. When you create something truly
original: a song, a photo, a story, a blog post or a video, you
automatically have an all-rights reserved copyright for that work.

Note that copyright is different from a patent, which is attributed

to an original method of doing something, a process or a physical
invention; or a trademark, which is almost exclusively a visual
combination of a logo, slogan, and/or image.
There is no international copyright though most countries
respect and protect copyrights through international agreements
such as treaties and conventions. Copyright is a delicate issue
and if you are serious about protecting your rights you might want
to speak to an intellectual property lawyer in your country.
But what if youd like to make your work available for
people to enjoy, share, re-use, adapt or modify?
Lets look at something that is being used all over the world, and
in fact is being translated and adapted to local countries legal
requirements: Creative Commons.
What is Creative Commons?
Creative Commons, while a relatively new term since its birth in
2001 is by definition is a non-profit organization, but the name is
more widely associated with the concept of Creative Commons as
a way to extend copyright to promote legal sharing and
modification of original works. Heres the goal of the organization:
increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and
scientific content) available in the commons the body

of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing,
use repurposing, and remixing.
Creative Commons is a way for you to take your intellectual
property original content like photos, writing, designs, videos
and more, and assign rights to it to be shared with the community
and the world. It is not an alternative to copyright: it works
in parallel with copyright.
Creative Commons licensing can protect the original copyright
and level of permissions the author chooses. It can also
perpetuate these rights (or not, depending on the authors choice)
and

encourages

and

facilitates

re-use

and

sharing.

Most

importantly, it helps the author retain rights if they so choose,

and it helps the user to know exactly what the author wants done
with his content and how they can utilize it. As CC calls it, Some
Rights reserved.
If instead you prefer to give up all rights to your work, it becomes
No Rights Reserved and part of Public Domain in which no
law restricts the way the works are used. Public domain is more
commonly attributed to works whose copyright licenses have
expired, usually dozens of years after the authors death. Each
country has its own laws and validity lengths for patents,
trademarks and copyrights.
Here are the Creative Commons licenses. The licenses are
iterations of living licenses that are updated frequently and the

version of the license attributed to that work will be depicted with

a number like 2.5. Attributing the most current form of the license
available is always recommended.
Each license has three components:
a Commons Deed which briefly explains the rights and rules of
the license
the Legal Code which should suffice as legal backing in the
case you need to go to court and is available in several languages
and the accompanying license image button that you can
display on your site or where youre publishing your content.
The most basic Creative Commons license chosen by authors is
that of Attribution being credited for the work if its re-used.
Other attributes are then added and mixed depending on the
authors desire.
Here are those elements directly from the Creative Commons
license page:

Attribution. You let others copy, distribute, display, and

perform your copyrighted work and derivative works based
upon it but only if they give credit the way you request.

Noncommercial. You let others copy, distribute, display, and

perform your work and derivative works based upon it but
for noncommercial purposes only.

No Derivative Works. You let others copy, distribute, display,

and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative
works based upon it.

Share Alike. You allow others to distribute derivative works

only under a license identical to the license that governs your
work.
For example, an author combining the desire to make work
available for non-commercial means but would like others to
continue sharing their creations as well might offer choose the
following license:

Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

Be sure to read and understand the full list of Creative Commons

HYPERLINK

"http://creativecommons.org/about/license/"

licenses made by combining the elements above.

Ready to choose a Creative Commons License?

 Not sure which license is best for you? Use the Creative
Commons License builder to help you figure that out.
Once youve decided which license youre interested in, get that
licenses image button and copy theHTML code
and insert the code on your website or where youre publishing
the work.
How to Use Others Creative Commons Content
Not publishing any work to be shared through Creative Commons,
but youd like to utilize, share or build upon others work? Here
are a few tips:
Look for Creative Commons Licenses: Most authors that are
using Creative Commons will know you know here are a few key
places to look: in the sidebar, at the bottom of the page, in the
About page, or even on the Contact page. If you dont see the
information youre looking for, dont hesitate to write the author
about the type of license they have on their work. They will
appreciate your respect and effort.
Understand the License Details: You found the license, but
make sure you understand each component of the license by
clicking-through and reading the details of the license so you
know the works opportunities and limitations before you start
using it.
Re-use, Modify and/or Distribute Accordingly: The author
has gone to the trouble to select and display the ways their work
can be shared and modified, now respect it! Make sure to re-

distribute the work with the same license that was given to the
original if Share Alike is specified.
Let the Author Know: Let the author know with more than just a
link back or listing their name tell them you enjoyed their work
and appreciated the fact that they made the available to the
community.
Make Your Own Work Available: Now that youve shared or
modified someone elses work, why not contribute to the cycle by
distributing some of your own work via Creative Commons