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OER Background: Creative Commons (CC) - Licensing and OER

DISCLAIMER: Material provided is only intended as a guide. This guide is not a substitute for professional legal advice.

If it is on the Internet, it is free to use, right?

Not exactly.  Just because content is on the Internet does not mean it is free to be used in any situation. All original content, regardless of access, may have copyright protection, even if it is not declared.

When in doubt, treat everything as under copyright, until proven otherwise.

Copyright restrictions can be OPENED with an overlaying Creative Commons License

The rights granted through copyright law - to the copyright owner - can have an addendum added by the copyright owner only - to give away some of those copy rights.

Using a Creative Commons License  or GNU or other legal license addendum

to give away some of your legal copy rights, 

may be referred to as opening your property license (copy right).

Such "Opened Content" is ONLY as opened as the attached license indicates.

After a Creative Commons License is attached to a work, it can not be revoked for that copy of the work...but the copyright owner still retains all rights and privileges of copyright for their work.

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