About Creative Commons
The internet makes it easy for people to use and share each other’s work. But sometimes the law makes it hard. When you make any creative work, that work is automatically copyrighted with “all rights reserved” — whether that’s what you want or not.
But people have been adapting and building upon each other’s work for centuries. Musicians sample beats from each other’s music. Artists create collages from other people’s images. Teachers borrow each other’s activities and lesson plans. Scientists build off of one another’s results to make new discoveries. When all of the great content in the world is locked under All Rights Reserved, what’s left for us to play with? When everyone can use a work, everyone benefits from it.
Creative Commons licenses let you control your copyright: with our free licenses, you can give others permission to use your creations, with “some rights reserved” as long as they follow a few simple rules. We believe that everyone should have access to the world’s knowledge, information, and culture, and we need your help to make it happen.
Contact Us:
444 Castro Street, Suite 916, Mountain View, CA 94041
(650) 294-4732
Email: info@creativecommons.org
Twitter: @creativecommons
This page is a mirror of About Creative Commons | The future is open.
Except where otherwise noted, The future is open by Creative Commons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Image credits
- Globe / Edward Boatman / CC BY 3.0
- File Repair (copyright symbol added) / iconoci / CC BY 3.0
- Link / Matthew Exton / Public Domain
- Raised Hand / Stephen JB Thomas / CC BY 3.0
- Money / Alex Berkowitz / CC BY 3.0
- Ryan Merkley / Rannie Turingan / CC0
- Staff Collage 2014 / Meryl Mohan / CC BY 4.0
- IMG_3242 / Bilal Randeree / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 (cropped and color adjusted)
- board meeting 12/7/13 / Meryl Mohan / CC BY 4.0
The banner illustrations were created by Luke Surl. To the extent possible under the law, Luke has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights under the CC0 Public Domain Dedication.
The “The future is open” logo is set in Akzidenz Grotesk Bold. This website is set in Roboto Slab.